New York City, NY short-term rental rules
Read from official city pages on 2026-10-23
New York City allows a registered host to share their own home with at most two guests; an unhosted whole-apartment stay is barred at any guest count outside Class B buildings. The application fee is $145 and platforms may not process an unregistered listing.
Can you run a short-term rental in New York City, NY?
Yes, with a license — only in your primary residence, not as an entire unit.
1. Can you operate here?
Primary residence
Required — the host must live in the unit and stay there with guests[2]New York City does not ask for a primary-residence declaration. The operative test is that the host lives in the unit and is present during the stay, which rules out unhosted whole-unit rentals. Unit limit
Entire units barred outside Class B buildings; two guests maximum[2]One- and two-family homes are for long-term residence only, so an entire-unit short stay is not available there at any guest count. Whole-unit short-term rentals exist only in Class B multiple dwellings, which the city has approved for transient occupancy. Night limits
Unhosted whole-unit stays under 30 days are barred, registered or not[2]Registration does not legalise a whole-apartment short stay. Short-term rentals are permitted only where the host stays in the same unit as the guests. A 29-night booking counts as short-term and a 30-night booking as permanent occupancy, because the check-in date is day zero. 3 of the 10 figures above are not published by the city. Those rows say so instead of carrying an estimate, and the reference still points to the page that was checked. These are the figures the city publishes — not a determination that a particular property may operate. Zoning, building occupancy class, lease terms and HOA rules sit outside this page and can bar a rental that otherwise holds a license.
2. What the license takes
License
Short-Term Rental Registration (Local Law 18)[1] Fee — new
$145[2]Application fee, non-refundable, paid when the application is submitted. Fee — renewal
None stated[2]The OSE registration page and host FAQ describe one application fee and no separate renewal charge, and do not state how long a registration stays valid. This row will be filled when the city publishes either figure. Term
Not published[2]Neither the registration page nor the host FAQ states how long a registration remains valid or whether it must be renewed. Registrations are not transferable, which is the only duration-related rule the pages do state. 3. What it costs
Occupancy tax
Not published[2]The Department of Finance page lists the flat per-room charges — $2.00 a day per room once the rent reaches $40 — and the state's $1.50 per unit per day fee, but states the ad valorem percentage is applied on top without printing the rate. The Office of Special Enforcement adds that the tax obligation is independent of registration and that OSE has no role in it. The percentage is set in the Administrative Code, so it is left blank here rather than estimated. If you operate without one
Not published[2]Both hosts and booking services face penalties under the Registration Law, set by the final rules published 3 February 2023. No amounts are printed on the OSE pages read, so none are quoted here. Other rules that apply
Host must be present
Short-term rentals are permitted only where the host is staying in the same unit or apartment as the guests.[2]
Ineligible buildings and units
NYCHA buildings, rent-controlled and rent-stabilised apartments, and any building its owner has added to the Prohibited Buildings list cannot be registered.[2]
Not transferable
A registration or renewal does not transfer with the property or to another host.[2]
Counting nights
The check-in date is day zero, not day one — so 29 nights is a short-term rental and 30 nights is permanent occupancy.[2]
Correcting a deficient application
Where every ground for denial can be fixed, OSE names each deficiency and allows 90 days to correct them.[2]
Revocation
OSE began issuing Notices of Intent to Revoke to registered hosts found in violation in April 2025.[3]
Sources, and the wording behind the key figures
Each bracketed number above points to the entry below. Where a sentence is quoted it is the city's own wording — the exact text the figure was read from. Figures whose sentence is not reproduced here still carry a bracketed reference — follow it to the source page for the exact wording.
The law requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), and prohibits booking service platforms (such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and others) from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals.
On January 9, 2022, New York City adopted Local Law 18, also known as the Short-Term Rental Registration Law.
Yes, the application fee for registration is $145. Payment is required at the time the application is submitted, and the applicant will be required to acknowledge that the application fee is non-refundable.
Hosts (whether owners or tenants) cannot rent out an entire apartment or home to visitors for fewer than 30 days, even if the host owns or lives in the building.
short term rentals where the host is sharing space with up to two guests in the unit where the host lives is permitted, and registration is required.
OSE cannot approve an application for a listing that offers an unhosted stay, an entire unit, or occupancy for more than two guests.
Short-term rentals are only permitted if you are staying in the same unit or apartment as the guests
Similarly, tenants in buildings where building owners have notified the City that short-term rentals are not allowed in their buildings will also be ineligible for short-term rental registration.
If a figure above differs from the page it cites, the official page is correct and this page is out of date. Report it to
[email protected].
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