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Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb / VRBO) in Massachusetts: rules in 20 towns compared
Can I rent my home on Airbnb or VRBO? Here's how each town answers it. Click a town for the details and the exact bylaw text.
Last reviewed
This page is for Massachusetts homeowners thinking about renting a home or room on Airbnb or VRBO. Since July 1, 2019, M.G.L. c. 64G has taxed and regulated short-term rentals, meaning stays of 31 days or less. You must register each property with the Department of Revenue on MassTaxConnect and post the Certificate of Registration in the unit. The state room occupancy excise is 5.7% of rent, and your town may add a local excise of up to 6% and, for some units, a community impact fee of up to 3%. If you rent 14 days or fewer in a calendar year, no tax is due, but you still have to register. You also need at least $1 million in liability coverage unless the booking platform provides it. Towns may go further, with local licenses, inspections, day or unit caps, location limits or bans.
Of the 20 towns we cover for this topic, Hingham generally bars rentals under 30 days and Concord requires a Zoning Board of Appeals special permit. Brookline, Lexington and Manchester-by-the-Sea allow short-term rentals only in a home you live in, with local registration or a license, and Nantucket, Chatham and Barnstable require Board of Health registration. Carlisle, Wellesley, Sudbury, Duxbury and Scituate have no local short-term rental rules, while in Weston, Andover and Hamilton zoning doesn't list the use at all, which leaves it unclear. Most of these towns bar short-term rentals in an ADU. Pick your town below for the details and the bylaw text.
Town-by-town comparison
| Town | Verdict | Short answer |
|---|---|---|
| Wellesley | Not specifically regulated | Wellesley's bylaws we reviewed have no short-term rental license, registration or rules for renting out a whole house on Airbnb or VRBO. The one direct rule: an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) can't be rented for less than 30 days or leased more than once in any 30-day period. |
| Weston | Restricted | Weston has no short-term rental license or registration in the bylaws we reviewed. Its Zoning By-law prohibits any use it doesn't expressly allow, and short-term rental of a whole house isn't listed, so it's unclear whether renting out your home short-term is allowed. An accessory dwelling unit can never be used as a short-term rental. Ask Inspectional Services before listing your home. |
| Lexington | Restricted | Only if it's your primary residence (or the second unit on a two-unit lot where you live in the other one), and only after you register with Lexington's Building and Zoning Office, pass an inspection and pay the registry fee. Accessory apartments can't be used as short-term rentals, and stays when you aren't home are capped at 120 days a year. |
| Concord | Allowed with board review | Only with a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Concord treats short-term rentals as a "tourist home or bed and breakfast," which can be allowed in a single-family detached home with no more than 3 rooms used for guests, and never on a lot with an accessory dwelling unit. |
| Brookline | Allowed with a permit | Yes, but only in your primary residence (where you live at least 183 days a year) and only after you get a Certificate of Registration from the Select Board's Office. You can rent short-term for up to 90 days a year (up to 180 with Select Board approval), with at most 2 guests per bedroom and 8 guests total. These rules come from the version of the bylaw approved in March 2022 and may have changed. |
| Needham | Restricted | Needham's bylaws we reviewed have no short-term rental license or registration and don't directly address renting a whole house on Airbnb or VRBO. They do block short-term rentals of accessory dwelling units: any ADU lease must run at least six months and must prohibit Airbnb-style subletting. Taking up to four non-transient boarders or renting two rooms requires a special permit in residential districts. |
| Sudbury | Not specifically regulated | Sudbury's bylaws we reviewed have no short-term rental registration or rules for renting out a whole house. Two rules come close: an accessory dwelling unit may never be used as a short-term rental, and a bed and breakfast needs a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. |
| Lincoln | Restricted | Lincoln has no short-term rental bylaw or registration program, and its zoning bylaw doesn't directly address renting out a whole house on Airbnb or VRBO. A resident may take up to three paying lodgers who share the household's kitchen, and on a lot with an ADU or accessory apartment the bylaw sets a 7-day minimum rental term. Ask the Building Commissioner before listing. |
| Belmont | Restricted | Belmont's Zoning By-Law has no short-term rental registration or licensing system, but it bans short-term rentals in accessory dwelling units. Renting rooms in your home (up to three rooms, no more than four unrelated people) for daily or weekly stays needs a special permit in residential districts. |
| Andover | Restricted | Probably not in a residential district, though no bylaw says so directly. Andover's zoning (2022 text, the newest we have) has no short-term rental rule or license and doesn't list short-term rentals as a use; it prohibits any use it doesn't specifically permit, and the 2025 ADU bylaw expressly bars ADU short-term rentals. Confirm with the Building Division before you list a home. |
| Hingham | Not allowed | Generally no. Hingham's Zoning By-Law says no dwelling unit may be leased or rented for less than 30 consecutive days, and accessory dwelling units can't be used as short-term rentals. The only route to nightly guests is a Bed & Breakfast in an owner-occupied single-family home, which needs a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. |
| Duxbury | Allowed | Duxbury has no local short-term rental bylaw, license or registration in the documents we reviewed, so renting a typical single-family home is governed mainly by state rules. One big exception: if your lot has an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), neither the ADU nor the main house may be rented for less than 31 days. |
| Manchester-by-the-Sea | Allowed with a permit | Only if you live in the home. Manchester-by-the-Sea's General By-law allows short-term paying guests (stays under 6 nights) in owner-occupied homes that hold an annual license from the Select Board; the application fee was initially set at $100. Short-term rentals aren't allowed in accessory dwelling units. |
| Nantucket | Allowed with a permit | Yes, if you register. Since January 1, 2023, every short-term rental on Nantucket needs a Board of Health certificate of registration, which costs $250 per unit per year and must be renewed by November 1. You also need a local contact who can be on site within two hours, $1 million of liability insurance (unless your platform covers it), and occupancy of no more than two people per bedroom plus two. |
| Chatham | Allowed with a permit | Yes, if you own the home and register it. Chatham's Board of Health requires owners to get an annual registration certificate (January 1 to December 31) before renting for 31 days or less, put the registration number on every listing, and limit guests to 2 per bedroom plus 2. Tenants can't sublet as short-term rentals, and an ADU and its main house can't be short-term rented at all. |
| Barnstable | Allowed with a permit | Yes, but in the ordinance text we reviewed, Barnstable requires every rental, including short-term rentals, to be registered with the Board of Health before you rent or advertise it. The certificate costs $250 per unit and is renewed each December 31. Under the 2021 ADU zoning rules we reviewed, a home with an ADU, or the ADU itself, can only be rented for 12 months or more. |
| Scituate | Allowed | Scituate's bylaws we reviewed have no short-term rental license, registration or cap for renting out a house, but an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) may never be rented for stays of 31 days or less. The town's Housing By-law requires a Board of Health Certificate of Fitness before any dwelling is let, which may cover short-term rentals, and Scituate has adopted a 6% local room occupancy excise and a 3% community impact fee on some short-term rentals. |
| Swampscott | Restricted | Swampscott has no short-term rental bylaw or local registration, and its zoning bylaw doesn't directly address renting a whole house on Airbnb. Renting rooms to overnight guests in your own home is treated as a Bed and Breakfast, which needs a special permit from the Board of Appeals in residence districts, must be owner-occupied, and is capped at 4 guest bedrooms. An ADU can't be rented for less than 30 days. |
| Hamilton | Restricted | Unclear for a main home, and not allowed in an ADU. Hamilton has no short-term rental registration or license in the bylaws we reviewed, and its zoning bylaw doesn't list short-term rentals as a use, though it treats any unlisted use as prohibited. The zoning bylaw expressly bans short-term rentals in accessory dwelling units, so confirm with the Building Commissioner before listing your home. |
| Carlisle | Allowed | Carlisle has no short-term rental bylaw, license or registration. Zoning lets a homeowner rent rooms to up to three people at a time, regular or transient, as an accessory use; an ADU can be rented short-term only if the owner lives in the main house. You still must register with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. |
Massachusetts' short-term rental law
Since July 1, 2019, M.G.L. c. 64G has taxed and regulated short-term rentals: stays of 31 days or less in a home, apartment, condo or room booked in advance.
State requirements:
- Register with the Department of Revenue (DOR) on MassTaxConnect and get a Certificate of Registration for each property. Post it in the unit.
- 14-day exemption: if you rent a property 14 days or fewer in a calendar year, no tax is due. You still have to register and file DOR's declaration by January 15 each year. Go over 14 days and you owe tax on every day, including the first 14.
- State room occupancy excise: 5.7% of rent (including cleaning and booking fees).
- Local taxes on top, if your town has adopted them: a local excise of up to 6% (6.5% in Boston), and a community impact fee of up to 3%. The fee applies to "professionally managed" units (an operator with 2 or more units in a town, other than units in the owner's own 1 to 3 family home) and, by separate vote, to units in an owner-occupied 2 or 3 family house. Barnstable County towns add 2.75% for a regional water fund.
- Insurance: at least $1 million liability coverage per unit, unless the booking platform provides equal coverage (c. 175, §4F).
Towns may go further (c. 64G, §14). They can require local licenses and inspections, cap the number of days or units, limit where rentals are allowed, or ban them entirely.
Common questions about short-term rentals in Massachusetts
- What are the short-term rental laws in Massachusetts?
- Under M.G.L. c. 64G, a short-term rental is a stay of 31 days or less booked in advance. You must register each property with the Department of Revenue, pay the 5.7% state room occupancy excise plus any local taxes, and carry at least $1 million in liability coverage. Towns may add licenses, caps or bans, so rules vary by town.
- Do I need to register my short-term rental in Massachusetts?
- Yes. Every operator must register each property with the Department of Revenue on MassTaxConnect and post the Certificate of Registration in the unit, even if you rent 14 days or fewer a year. Some towns also require their own local registration or license.
- What is the short-term rental tax in Massachusetts?
- The state room occupancy excise is 5.7% of rent, including cleaning and booking fees. Towns that have adopted them add a local excise of up to 6% and a community impact fee of up to 3% on certain units, and Barnstable County towns add 2.75% for a regional water fund. No tax is due if you rent 14 days or fewer a year.
- Can my town ban Airbnb in Massachusetts?
- Yes. State law (c. 64G, §14) lets towns require local licenses and inspections, cap the number of days or units, limit where rentals are allowed, or ban them entirely. Some towns also bar short-term rentals of ADUs.
- Do I need insurance for a short-term rental in Massachusetts?
- Yes. You need at least $1 million of liability coverage per unit, unless the booking platform provides equal coverage (c. 175, §4F).
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