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Register a Short-Term Rental

Inspectional Services

New State law requires registration of short-term rentals and payment of State excise tax. Learn more

How to Start

Overview

Short-term rental (STR) refers to the rental of any dwelling unit or bedroom as a residential accommodation for a duration of less than 30 consecutive days. Short-term rentals are allowed within certain parameters, and there are rules and regulations you must follow to legally rent out your residence on a short-term basis. See Section 4.60 of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance.



Click here to start a short-term rental application »

Requirements

The operator of a short-term rental must meet all of the following criteria in order to be eligible:

  • The operator must be an owner of the dwelling unit, or a tenant of the dwelling unit (with permission of the owner and, in the case of a condominium unit, the additional permission of the condominium association) to offer a unit or room for short-term rental.
  • The operator must live in the STR unit as a primary residence and may rent out up to a maximum of three legal bedrooms, called operator-occupied short-term rental;
    AND/OR, the operator must live in a unit adjacent to the STR unit as a primary residence and own all the other units in a building which can only contain a maximum of four(4) residential dwelling units or less. An owner-adjacent short-term rental may only be rented as a whole unit, not as individual bedrooms.

Please refer to the Short-Term Rental Options document for an illustrated explanation of the distinction between an Operator-Occupied and Owner-Adjacent short-term rental unit.

Other eligibility requirements apply; refer to Section 4.60 of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance.

Additional Information

A list of registered short-term rentals are available for public viewing on the City’s Open Data Portal.

To lodge a complaint about a specific property, please use See Click Fix reporting website

Page was last modified on 7/24/2023 8:10 PM
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