(1) No person shall operate a transient accommodation as defined in this chapter without having a valid license issued by the department. Applications for a transient accommodation license shall be filed with the department sixty days or more before initiating business as a transient accommodation. All licenses issued under the provisions of this chapter shall expire one year from the effective date.

     (2) All applications for renewal of licenses shall be either: (a) Postmarked no later than midnight on the date the license expires; or (b) if personally presented to the department or sent by electronic means, received by the department by 5:00 p.m. on the date the license expires.

     (3) A licensee that submits a license renewal application in accordance with this section and the rules and fee schedule adopted under this chapter shall be deemed to possess a valid license for the year following the expiration date of the expiring license, or until the department suspends or revokes the license pursuant to RCW 70.62.270.

     (4) The license of a licensee that fails to submit a license renewal application in accordance with this section, and the rules and fee schedule adopted under this chapter, shall become invalid on the thirty-fifth day after the expiration date, unless the licensee shall have corrected any and all deficiencies in the renewal application and paid a penalty fee as established by rule by the department before the thirty-fifth day following the expiration date. An invalid license may be reinstated upon reapplication as an applicant for a new license under subsection (1) of this section.

     (5) Each license shall be issued only for the premises and persons named in the application.

[2004 c 162 § 1; 1994 c 250 § 6; 1971 ex.s. c 239 § 7.]