Tend.

Scottsdale
license guide

The Scottsdale short-term rental license, start to finish.

Scottsdale requires a city license for every home rented for stays under 30 days — one license per property, renewed every year, $250 each time. The order of operations matters, and the fines run larger than the fee. Here is the whole process in plain language, from a company that files these for its owners.

What the license is, and who needs one

Since January 8, 2023, under Ordinance 4566, no one may operate a vacation or short-term rental in Scottsdale without a current city license. Short-term means any stay under 30 days. Each house or dwelling unit needs its own license, and a license transfers to no one — not to a new owner, not to a different property.

The license runs one year from the date it is issued. The fee is $250 and non-refundable, for first applications and renewals alike. State law caps what any Arizona city may charge at its actual cost of issuing the license or $250, whichever is less; Scottsdale charges the cap.

One thing worth knowing before the steps: an online listing that places a rental inside the city is, in the ordinance’s words, prima facie evidence that a rental is operating. If the property is advertised, the city considers it in business — licensed or not.

Two requirements that come first

The city application asks for proof of a valid Arizona transaction privilege tax (TPT) license, so the state license comes first. It is issued by the Arizona Department of Revenue through AZTaxes.gov; the full TPT picture has its own section below.

Separately, Arizona law (A.R.S. § 33-1902) requires every residential rental property to be registered with the county assessor. The city’s own licensing guide is blunt about it: it is illegal to rent a property before it is registered with the Maricopa County Assessor. Registration is handled at mcassessor.maricopa.gov.

The application, step by step

The application is fully online, through the city’s Accela licensing portal. The city issues a license within seven business days of receiving a complete application, unless grounds for denial exist. In order:

1. Obtain your Arizona TPT license at AZTaxes.gov. The city application requires the number, so there is no skipping ahead.
2. Register an account on Scottsdale’s licensing portal and start a short-term rental license application.
3. Search for and select the property address, then enter the owner’s name, address, phone, and email. If the home is owned by an LLC or other entity, the entity’s statutory agent goes on the application.
4. Add an owner’s designee if someone manages the property on your behalf. The owner certifies the designee’s authority, and a signed Owner Designee Authorization form must be uploaded with the application.
5. Name the emergency contact — a real person with a 24-hour phone number who can be on-site within one hour when public safety asks. Only one emergency contact can be current at a time.
6. Make the attestations: agreement to comply with all applicable laws, and that neither owner nor designee is a registered sex offender, has been convicted of a felony that resulted in death or serious physical injury, or has been convicted of felony use of a deadly weapon within the past five years. Individual applicants also provide proof of lawful presence in the United States.
7. Upload the supporting documents, review, and pay the $250 fee. It is non-refundable.
8. Wait for issuance — up to seven business days for a complete application.
9. Before the home is first offered for rent, notify the neighbors in writing: every single-family property adjacent to, directly across from, or diagonally across the street from the home — or, in a multi-family building, every unit on the same floor. The notice must include the license number, the property address, and the emergency contact’s name, address, and 24-hour phone number. Then attest compliance on the city’s form.
10. Within 30 days of obtaining the license, give the city evidence of liability insurance of at least $500,000 — or evidence that every booking runs through an online lodging marketplace providing equal or greater primary coverage.
11. Post the required notice inside the home: 14-point or larger bold font, laminated or similarly shielded, on the inside of the front door and the primary backyard door. It carries the license number, the local contact, and the list of prohibited uses. The city provides a template.

Keeping it: the operating rules

Getting the license is an afternoon of paperwork. Keeping it is a discipline. The ordinance attaches ongoing duties to every licensed rental, and most carry their own fines.

• License number on every advertisement. Every listing, every platform. Minimum fine of $500, reducible to $100 once the listing is corrected.
• A sex-offender check before every stay. No later than 24 hours before each stay, the owner or designee must run the booking guest through the U.S. Department of Justice’s online national sex offender public website, and keep a printout — paper or electronic — for 12 months, available if the city asks. The mandatory minimum fine is $1,000, and the court cannot suspend it. The requirement is satisfied if the marketplace performs the check; confirm what your platform actually does rather than assume.
• An emergency contact who shows up. In person, within one hour, whenever public safety personnel request it. Failing to respond carries a minimum $500 fine; arriving late, a minimum of $250.
• A clean, safe house. Cleaned between stays. Pest control at least bi-monthly. Working smoke alarms maintained to NFPA 72. A posted floor-plan map showing exit routes and the location of safety equipment. If there is a pool, spa, or hot tub guests can reach, it must meet the city’s barrier requirements.
• Trash on schedule. Containers out no earlier than 6 p.m. the evening before collection, and off the curb the day they are emptied.
• Current information. Material changes to anything on the application must reach the city within ten business days. If the property’s contact information changes, the neighbors must be re-notified within 15 business days.

The annual renewal

A Scottsdale license is valid for one year from the date of issuance — not a calendar year — and nothing renews itself. The renewal is an application like the first one, with the same non-refundable $250 fee.

The state runs on a different clock. TPT licenses cover January 1 through December 31 and must be renewed by January 1 each year no matter when they were issued; the renewal is delinquent after the last business day of January. Two licenses, two anniversaries — a calendar problem before it is a compliance problem.

Penalties, plainly

The fee is $250. The fines are not.

• Operating without a license: a civil fine of not less than $1,000 per violation — and the court is not permitted to suspend any part of it.
• Ignoring the city’s written notice to apply: an additional $1,000 for every 30 days the application does not arrive.
• Verified violations at a licensed property, within any 12-month period: up to $500 or one night’s advertised rent, whichever is greater, for the first; up to $1,000 or two nights’ rent for the second; up to $3,500 or three nights’ rent for the third and any after.
• Suspension: three verified violations in 12 months — or a single serious one — start suspension proceedings. A final suspension lasts one year, reducible to six months if the owner shows substantial corrective steps.
• After a denial or revocation, no new application for that property for one year.

Arizona TPT: the state license with its own steps

The transaction privilege tax license is a separate requirement with a separate rhythm, and it deserves its own guide. The short version:

1. Income from stays under 30 days is subject to Arizona TPT. The Department of Revenue is explicit: an owner may not offer a lodging accommodation for rent without first obtaining a current TPT license — even if every booking comes through an online marketplace.
2. Register at AZTaxes.gov before you touch the Scottsdale application; the city requires the TPT number.
3. If you list on Airbnb or Vrbo, the marketplace collects and remits the tax on bookings made through it. You still file, reporting that income and deducting it under the marketplace deduction (code 775) so it is not taxed twice.
4. Renew by January 1 every year. The renewal is delinquent after the last business day of January.

What Tend owners do about all of this

Nothing, mostly. We hold the licenses, run the checks, post the notices, watch both calendars, and file the renewals — city, state, and county — for every home we manage. Compliance is not an add-on; it is simply part of how we charge — 22 percent of accommodation revenue, everything else passed through at cost. If you own a home in Scottsdale and would rather see what it earns than track what it owes, ask for a First Look — a complimentary written earnings brief.

Questions owners actually ask.

Reviewed July 2026 against the sources below. Ordinances change; where this page and the current code differ, the code governs — confirm with the city before relying on any single detail.
Sources: scottsdaleaz.gov · scottsdaleaz.gov · scottsdaleaz.gov · scottsdaleaz.gov · ww2.scottsdaleaz.gov · azleg.gov · azdor.gov · azdor.gov · str.scottsdaleaz.gov