Boone

Operating rules

Primary residence

conditional

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

Homestay rental: maximum 2 bedrooms per property and maximum four (4) adults plus any number of children under those adults' care (an adult is 18+). Vacation rental: dwelling with up to six (6) bedrooms; no separate headcount cap stated, but at least one off-street parking space per bedroom is required.

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

No town-wide numeric cap on STR permits. There is a per-building cap for vacation rentals in multi-family/mixed-use developments: developments with up to 29 dwelling units may have no more than ONE vacation rental unit; developments with 30 or more units are capped at 5% of dwelling units. Permits are issued first-come, first-served by initial application date; a lapsed permit is re-treated as an initial application. Separately, a person may hold only one homestay permit at any one time.

Grandfathering: Two distinct grandfather clauses. (1) § 15.14.17.D: 'Any vacation rental located in the RA or R3 zoning districts that was legally permitted as of May 8, 2024 may continue to operate so long as the annual short-term rental permit (1) has not been revoked in accordance with Subsection 15.14.17 and (2) the annual permit has been successfully renewed prior to the permits expiration.' — i.e. Ord. A24-0072 (05-08-2024) removed vacation rentals from RA and R3, preserving only already-permitted operators who never lapse or get revoked. (2) § 15.14.05: in B1/B2/B3, single-family and two-family detached dwellings may be used as a vacation rental only if the dwelling existed as of January 1, 2014. Note the compliance window closed long ago: unpermitted STRs operating as of 06-30-2022 had to apply by 12-31-2022 and comply by 06-30-2023 or cease operation.

Zoning: This is the decisive restriction. Per the UDO Article 14 use matrix, Vacation Rental (whole-home, non-owner-occupied) is a Limited use in ONLY four districts: B1DC Downtown Core, B1DI Downtown Interface (§14.19), B2 Neighborhood Business (§14.20) and B3 General Business (§14.21). It is NOT a permitted use in any residential district (R1, R1A, RA, R2, R3, R4, R5, RR, R1S, MH). Within B1/B2/B3, single-family and two-family detached dwellings (and accessory dwellings on the same property) may be used as a vacation rental only if the dwelling existed as of January 1, 2014. Homestay Rental (owner-occupied, host present, ≤2 bedrooms) is a Limited use across residential and business districts: RA, R1, R1A, RR, R1S, R2, R4, MH, R3, R5, OI, B1DC, B1DI, B2, B3, WD, M1. The Town's STR page also states vacation rentals are subject to a 75' transitional zone attaching to R1, R1A, RR, R2 and RA protected districts, triggering a Board of Adjustment special use permit — see verification_notes, as this language was not located in the current UDO text.

• Definition threshold is 'less than thirty (30) days' — Boone's STR rules bite on any stay under 30 days; there is no minimum-night requirement, and a 30+ day lease is simply not an STR.
• Incidental-use safe harbor: 'the full-time resident of a dwelling (as defined at section 15.05.02 above) may rent out their dwelling for up to two (2) weeks in any calendar year and such rental shall not be deemed a vacation rental under this section 15.14 but rather shall be considered an incidental use of the dwelling that does not require approval or permitting under this Article.' This 14-day allowance is an exemption from permitting, not an annual cap on permitted operators.
• Cooking facilities are prohibited in any bedroom (refrigerator over 7 cu ft, 220-volt range, natural-gas appliance, or cooktop with more than two burners), except within a one-room studio/efficiency unit.
• No signs advertising the property as a rental are allowed, and no displays of goods/services may be visible from outside the dwelling.
• In residential districts, renters may not use the premises for special events or large gatherings; operators must inform renters of the Town noise ordinance (Town Code Chapter 82).
• Accessory dwellings: if the primary structure qualifies for vacation rental use, a lawful accessory dwelling on the same property may also be used, but simultaneous rental of both units to more than one party under separate contracts is prohibited (single contract to one party is allowed). For homestay, one or both of the two permitted bedrooms may be in an accessory structure compliant with the NC Residential Building Code.
• STR permits are not transferable; a new owner/operator must apply for their own permit before operating.
• Residents of Neighborhood Conservation Districts or other adversely impacted residents may petition Town Council to support a prohibition on homestay rentals in their neighborhood (§ 15.05.20).
• Only properties inside the Boone corporate limits are subject to these rules; the Town directs operators to its online GIS to confirm corporate-limit status. Properties in unincorporated Watauga County fall under the county instead (including the county's District U occupancy tax).

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

UDO Article 12 § 12.07 civil penalties accrue per day per violation, with each uncorrected day a separate offense: $100.00/day for 'All other Violations' (the catch-all reaching operation of an unpermitted STR and most § 15.05/§ 15.14 breaches), $200.00/day for an 'Occupancy Violation', and $100.00/day for a 'Sign Violation'. Repeat violators pay 250% of the civil penalty (1st repeat) or 500% (2nd or more), each plus a $1,000.00 one-time assessment. Penalties accrue from the date imposed until the violation is corrected and may be recovered by the Town in a civil debt action including court costs and attorney's fees. Separately, permit REVOCATION is mandatory ('The Administrator shall revoke') upon a written determination of: conviction on the premises within 3 years for kidnapping (Art. 10), human trafficking (Art. 10A) or prostitution (Art. 27) of NCGS Ch. 14, or a violent felony under N.C.G.S. §14-7.7; conviction within 365 days for alcohol offenses (NCGS Ch. 18B Art. 3), possession of stolen goods (§14-71.1) or unlawful gambling (§14-292); or two or more 'Verified Violations' within a 365-day period of any Town zoning regulation, the Chapter 82 noise ordinance, or a Chapter 80 nuisance. After lawful revocation no new permit may issue for the premises for 365 days — or three years for criminal-conviction revocations unless the convicted person is no longer a resident, manager or operator. Occupancy-tax delinquency carries its own penalties: a $10 per-day penalty up to $2,000 per return, plus an additional 5% of tax due per 30 days late; S.L. 2009-291 also authorizes a misdemeanor penalty up to a $1,000 fine and/or six months imprisonment, and G.S. 160A-215(e) applies the G.S. 105-236 state civil and criminal penalties.

Notes

Enforcement is proactive and outsourced, not merely complaint-of-record. The Town contracts with Host Compliance to run a 24/7 phone and online hotline — (828) 818-8238 — dedicated to reporting illegal (unpermitted) STRs and STR nuisance complaints (noise, parking, trash), and the system supports gathering video/photo evidence for enforcement actions. Complaints route to a responsible party for permitted rentals and to the Planning & Inspections Department, though the department only responds during business hours (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm), with nights/weekend complaints reviewed the next business day. The Town additionally requires documentary evidence of occupancy-tax payment at application and each renewal and reserves discretionary audit authority over permittees. The mandatory permit-number posting on every advertisement makes unpermitted listings straightforward to detect on platforms. The RA/R3 grandfather clause is enforcement-sensitive: a single revocation or a lapsed renewal permanently extinguishes a grandfathered vacation rental's right to operate.