West Fargo now licenses short-term rentals and says in writing it will not enforce your covenant
West Fargo now licenses short-term rentals and says in writing it will not enforce your covenant
2026-09-15 · North Dakota · Regulation
West Fargo began licensing short-term rentals on July 1, 2026, and the ordinance contains the clearest statement in North Dakota law that a city permit is not a defence to a covenant.1
Ordinance No. 1254 creates Chapter 10-16 of the Revised Ordinances and amends the definitions of dwelling unit and short-term rental. Applications opened May 1, 2026; the licence year runs July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.
The covenant clause
Section 10-1603(3), in full:
“Private Restrictions/Covenants: A license issued to a person or entity whose premises is subject to private restrictions and/or covenants that prohibit the use of short-term rentals is the sole responsibility of the person or entity applying for the license. The interpretation and enforcement of the private restrictions and/or covenants is the sole responsibility of the private parties involved; the City is in no way responsible for interpreting or enforcing private restrictions and/or covenants.”
An owner in a West Fargo association whose declaration bars short-term rentals can obtain a West Fargo licence. The licence changes nothing about the covenant, and the city has said so in the instrument itself.
Condominiums are expressly in scope
Section 10-1602(1) defines a short-term rental as “The rental of a dwelling unit or any portion thereof for a period of twenty nine (29) or fewer consecutive days,” and subsection (2) covers “including single-family homes, apartments, condominiums, and other similar residential structures but not including hotels or motels.”
So a condominium unit in West Fargo is licensable, whatever the declaration says.
The provision that tells a board an STR has opened
This is the most useful operational detail in the whole ordinance. On application, “the City Auditor shall notify by mail all owners of property within 150 feet of the licensed premises.”
A board that has struggled to prove a unit is being let short-term now has a mechanism: the neighbours get a letter from the city. Ask owners to forward them. That notice is dated, official, and names the premises.
The advertising rule is the second evidence source: the licence number and the maximum occupancy must appear in every listing. A listing without them is an unlicensed operation; a listing with them is an admission.
What else the ordinance requires
Insurance: the operator “must maintain general liability insurance for the licensed premises in the amount of at least $500,000 at all times.”
Occupancy is “the sum of the allowable occupancy of all designated bedrooms,” on a table keyed to bedroom size: under 70 square feet permits zero occupants, 70 to 99.9 permits one, 100 to 149.9 permits two, and 150 or more permits three, capped by the property maintenance code.
Parking: “at least two (2) off-street parking spaces on the premises… open and available to short-term renters at all times.” In a condominium or townhome community with assigned or common parking, this is where the city ordinance and the association's rules meet hardest.
Signage and appearance: “There shall be no exterior signage and no change to the outside appearance of the premises that would reflect the presence of a short-term rental.” The city has adopted an architectural rule of its own.
No parties: the premises “may only be used for overnight accommodations and shall not be used for any gathering meeting the definition of a party.”
Records: guest stay records kept twelve months and produced to the city on request.
Fees: $150 annual licence, prorated, plus a $65 safety and compliance inspection. Inspection by police, fire or building inspections before issuance. The licence is non-transferable on sale.
Enforcement, and one number nobody should quote
Section 10-1605 makes violations an infraction under § 1-0211, with administrative fines, suspension or revocation available, and repeat violations counted on a rolling twelve-month basis. An unlicensed operator gets “a compliance period of up to thirty (30) calendar days to apply for a license.”
The ordinance sets no fine amount. It says only that “Fines shall be established by resolution of the Board of City Commissioners and may increase with each repeated violation.” That resolution was not located in this review. Nobody should publish or rely on a West Fargo short-term rental fine figure.
The requirement West Fargo decided not to impose
A primary-residence requirement — limiting short-term rentals to owner-occupants — was proposed, tabled in June 2025, sent to a study committee, surveyed in August 2025, and left out of the final ordinance. Reports describe roughly sixty survey responses, about half opposed.
That omission is the point for a board. West Fargo declined to restrict short-term rentals to owner-occupied homes. In most West Fargo subdivisions, the only instrument that now does anything of the kind is the declaration.
Where a West Fargo board stands
Read your own document first. Does it prohibit short-term letting, impose a minimum term, require board approval of leases, or say nothing? North Dakota supplies no default. Our North Dakota short-term rentals page covers how these clauses are usually written.
Use the 150-foot notice. Tell owners to forward the city's mailing to the board. It is the cheapest enforcement intelligence an association will ever get.
Decide the parking question before it arrives. The city requires two off-street spaces available to renters at all times. If the association controls parking, the licence condition and the association's rules will collide on somebody's application.
Do not treat the licence as a fact about your covenant. Section 10-1603(3) says the city is “in no way responsible.” Enforcement is yours, and the ordinance's own text is useful evidence that nobody was misled into thinking otherwise.
A date discrepancy worth flagging
The signed ordinance records a first reading of October 30, 2025 and a second reading of November 3, 2025, with publication November 12, 2025. Press reporting places the first reading on October 20, 2025. October 20 was a Monday, West Fargo's usual meeting night; October 30 was a Thursday. The dates are cited here as the municipal record has them, without vouching for the October 30 entry.
What to watch next
Watch for the Board of City Commissioners' fine resolution, which is the missing piece of the enforcement scheme. Watch the first licence year close on June 30, 2027, and watch whether the primary-residence requirement returns once the city has a year of data.
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