Short-Term Rentals in Pennington County, South Dakota

Two different rulebooks: the county license is not the same as the Rapid City ordinance

Rapid City itself adopted its own vacation-home ordinance (Ordinance No. 6698), which defines a vacation home as a residence rented for less than 28 consecutive days and more than 14 days a year without an owner or manager present, and requires city registration, a $70 fee, and compliance with city parking and occupancy rules (capped at two guests per bedroom plus two more). But that ordinance governs land inside Rapid City's corporate limits only. For land outside any incorporated municipality -- which is most of the Black Hills-adjacent and rural land this site's readers are actually evaluating -- a separate county-level system applies instead, run by Pennington County Planning & Zoning, not the city.

Pennington County's own vacation-home licensing requirement took effect June 26, 2024. Before that date, an operator in the unincorporated county needed a conditional use permit, which meant neighborhood notification and a public hearing before the Planning Commission. The 2024 change replaced that process with a direct licensing system -- still administered by the county, but without the notification-and-hearing step for a straightforward application. If you're buying a specific parcel to operate as a short-term rental, confirm with Pennington County Planning & Zoning first whether it falls under this county license, the separate Rapid City ordinance, or (if it's within another incorporated town's limits) that town's own rules -- the answer depends on exactly where the parcel sits, not just its ZIP code or general Black Hills-area location.

What the county license actually requires

The county's vacation-home license costs $150 and is valid for three years, a longer cycle than Rapid City's own annual registration. County officials have described the licensing packet as running to about three pages of rules, site-plan, and supporting-document requirements -- more substantive than a simple form. Properties that were already operating as vacation homes before the new system took effect can be grandfathered in, but a property that was never previously licensed or permitted as a short-term rental needs to go through the county's approval process before you can legally advertise or book it, even if a previous or current owner was renting it informally.

• Confirm with Pennington County Planning & Zoning ((605) 394-2186 / plz@pennco.org) whether a specific parcel is inside or outside any incorporated town's limits, since that determines which set of rules applies.
• Ask whether the parcel or an existing structure on it was already licensed or permitted as a vacation home before June 26, 2024 -- grandfathering can turn on that date, not on how long the owner has informally rented it.
• Request the current compliance checklist directly from the county (available through pennco.org) rather than relying on a general online summary, since site-specific requirements (parking, occupancy, septic or well capacity) are laid out there.
• Separately, confirm state lodging licensure: South Dakota's SDCL Chapter 34-18 requires a vacation-home establishment to be licensed through the Department of Health's lodging program, with its own application, inspection, and fee, on top of the county license -- these are two different approval processes, not one.

Enforcement here is real and active, not theoretical. Pennington County has sent compliance notices to unlicensed operators with a firm deadline (a December 3 deadline was cited for one enforcement round) to get licensed, and the county has warned of a $200-per-day fine for continuing to operate a short-term rental in the unincorporated county without one. For a buyer, that means an unlicensed short-term rental you find already listed for sale or already being rented informally is a real compliance liability to resolve before closing, not a minor paperwork gap -- get written confirmation of licensing status, or budget for the licensing process yourself, before assuming you can simply continue an existing rental operation on day one of ownership.