Short-Term Rental Rules in Park County, Montana

Livingston's short-term rental ordinance: a real permit process, not just a license

Inside Livingston city limits, short-term rental hosts must obtain a short-term rental permit from the city before operating -- this is a distinct annual permit, renewed each year and subject to a base fee, not something folded automatically into a property's existing zoning. Before a first permit is issued, the property must pass a basic safety inspection conducted by the city's Building Official or Fire Marshal, confirming the presence of working smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and adequate egress from the unit. The city's framework also distinguishes two categories of rental: Type 1 covers owner-occupied units where the owner is present during the rental, while Type 2 covers units where the owner does not live on the property, in which case a primary contact must be available within a 45-minute drive of the unit at all times it's being rented.

Under the city's framework, short-term rentals are permitted in all zoning districts except Light Industrial, Capital Facilities, and Planned Unit Developments -- so a property's zoning designation inside city limits still matters even though the STR permit itself is a separate approval. Because this is a relatively recent, actively-implemented ordinance, confirm current fee amounts, inspection scheduling, and the exact Type 1/Type 2 requirements directly with the city rather than assuming they're unchanged from any published draft.

Gardiner and unincorporated Park County: two more, different rulebooks

Gardiner, the gateway community at Yellowstone's north entrance, takes a simpler approach than Livingston: hosts there are generally required to obtain a business license to operate a short-term rental, rather than going through a dedicated STR permit process with a safety inspection and owner-occupancy categories. A property's Gardiner address does not by itself tell you which rulebook applies, though -- confirm whether a specific parcel sits inside Gardiner's own governed area or in the surrounding unincorporated county before assuming Gardiner's simpler licensing approach controls.

For land in unincorporated Park County -- including Paradise Valley, East Yellowstone, and the Cooke City-Silver Gate-Colter Pass area, all high-demand for overnight rental given their proximity to Yellowstone's entrances -- this research found no confirmed, dedicated short-term rental ordinance separate from the county's existing 7-district zoning framework (6 citizen-initiated districts plus 1 county-initiated district, covered on the county hub). That means whether a short-term rental is allowed by right, allowed as an accessory use, or requires a conditional or special use permit on a given unincorporated parcel depends on which of those zoning districts (if any) the parcel falls within, and on that district's specific rules -- there is no county-wide STR license or permit fee schedule to point to instead. Get a parcel-specific determination from the Park County Planning and Community Development office rather than assuming any Livingston- or Gardiner-style rule applies outside those two communities.

What this means for a buyer evaluating short-term rental income

Before budgeting a purchase around short-term rental income anywhere in Park County, first confirm which of the three regimes above actually governs the specific parcel -- Livingston's permit-and-inspection system, Gardiner's business-license approach, or unincorporated-county zoning-district review -- since a mailing address alone won't tell you. If the parcel is in Livingston, ask whether an existing STR permit is transferable to a new owner at sale or must be reapplied for from scratch, and confirm the current safety-inspection requirements before advertising the unit. If the parcel is in unincorporated county, budget time for a zoning-district lookup and, if needed, a conditional-use-permit process through the county Planning Department well before any planned rental start date.