Last reviewed: 27 July 2026. This is a complete rewrite, checked against Boston's published ordinance rather than against other guides.
The short version
- Boston's line is 28 days. A short-term rental is a residential unit rented for fewer than 28 consecutive days for a fee.
- Owner-occupied only. Short-term rentals are permitted only in owner-occupied condominiums, single-family, two-family and three-family buildings. Investment properties are ineligible. There is no route around this.
- For two- and three-family buildings, the owner-occupant must own all the units.
- Primary residence means nine months a year.
- There are three categories: Limited Share, Home Share and Owner-Adjacent. All three may be offered up to 365 days a year.
- There is no annual night cap. Boston restricts who can operate, not how often.
- You register with the Inspectional Services Department (ISD), annually, and put the number in every advertisement.
- Three types of stay are excluded from the rules entirely, including anything of 28 days or more.
The three categories
This is the structure of Boston's ordinance and it is worth getting exactly right.
Limited Share Unit. You rent a bedroom or shared space within your primary residence, while you are present during the guest's stay.
Home Share Unit. You rent the whole unit at your primary residence. Occupancy is limited to five bedrooms or 10 guests, whichever is fewer.
Owner-Adjacent Unit. In an owner-occupied two- or three-family building, you list the entire single secondary unit while living in another unit in the same property.
Limited Share and Home Share units must be the owner-operator's primary residence. An Owner-Adjacent unit must be located within the same property as the owner-operator's primary residence.
A correction worth flagging. Several widely-read guides state that Limited Share units are capped at 60 nights a year. The City's own page states that all three types may be offered up to 365 days per year. Where a secondary source and the city disagree, use the city.
Source: City of Boston, Short-Term Rentals
At a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What counts as short-term? | Fewer than 28 consecutive days, for a fee |
| Can I use an investment property? | No. Owner-occupied only |
| What is a primary residence? | Occupied by the owner at least nine months a year |
| Annual night cap | None. All three categories allow up to 365 days |
| Two- or three-family buildings | The owner-occupant must own all units |
| Registration | Annual, with ISD |
| Registration number in ads? | Yes |
| Record retention | Three years |
| Is 28 days or more covered? | No |
The owner-occupancy requirement
This is the heart of the ordinance and the reason Boston is closed to investors.
Short-term rentals are only allowed in owner-occupied condominiums, single-family, two-family and three-family buildings. Primary residence means the owner occupies the property for at least nine months of the year.
For two- and three-family buildings, there is an additional condition that catches people out: the owner-occupant must own all the units in the building. Owning one unit in a triple-decker and living in it is not enough if you do not own the other two.
The ordinance explicitly excludes hotels, motels, executive suites and other non-residential uses from the definition of a residential unit, along with categories such as elderly housing, group residences, homeless shelters and transitional housing.
Expect to prove residency. Acceptable evidence generally includes utility bills, a driver's licence, voter registration or a deed. Where you have filed for the Residential Tax Exemption, that helps; where you have not, you can still register by proving owner-occupancy, and submitting proof up front speeds the process.
Check eligibility first. Boston publishes a searchable dataset showing, per unit, whether it is Home-Share eligible, Limited-Share eligible or Owner-Adjacent eligible. Use it before you spend time on an application.
Source: Short-Term Rental Eligibility dataset, Analyze Boston
What is excluded from the rules
Three exclusions, and they matter because they define the lawful alternatives.
Stays of 28 consecutive days or longer are not short-term rentals. This is the main route for anyone whose property cannot meet the owner-occupancy test.
Units under contract with hospitals are not short-term rentals. On request from Inspectional Services you must produce the contract, and it must describe the legitimate use of the unit for hospital stays.
Units used for furnished institutional or business stays are not short-term rentals, provided the minimum stay is at least 10 days.
Those last two are unusual and genuinely useful in a city with Boston's medical and academic sector. They are also documentation-dependent, so keep the paperwork.
Registration
You register with the Inspectional Services Department, online or on ISD's paper form, to be listed on the Short-Term Rental Registry.
Term. A registration is valid for one year, running 1 January to 31 December, or another twelve-month period as ISD determines.
What goes on the registry. Operator name, the unit's address, the operator's relationship to the unit, which category it is being offered as, and other information ISD requires. You also certify that you and the unit comply with the ordinance.
Your number goes in your advertisements. Include the active registration number in all listings.
A separate business certificate is obtained from the City Clerk's Office. This is a distinct filing from the ISD registration.
Fees differ by category. Reporting puts Limited Share at a nominal annual amount and Home Share and Owner-Adjacent higher, but fees change, so take the current figures from the city's portal rather than from any guide.
Records you must keep
The ordinance is specific, and this is easy to overlook.
You must retain, and make available to ISD on written request, records demonstrating compliance, including:
- Records showing the number of months you have resided or will reside in the unit
- Records showing that you own the unit
- Records showing the number of days per year the unit is offered as a short-term rental
Retention period: three years.
If you cannot produce those on request, you have a compliance problem regardless of whether you were actually within the rules.
Enforcement and problem properties
ISD monitors registered units and platforms are required to enforce registration, listing only units that conform to the city's rules.
Where a property generates repeated complaints or raises safety concerns, ISD works with police and other city services and the property can be designated a problem property, which brings heightened scrutiny and potential legal action.
Neighbour notification is part of the expected practice, and given the problem-property mechanism, being the operator whose guests do not generate complaints has real regulatory value.
Massachusetts state layer
Boston's ordinance sits on top of state requirements. Massachusetts registers short-term rental operators and applies state room occupancy excise to short-term rentals, with local option amounts on top, and imposes insurance requirements. Where state and city requirements overlap, the more restrictive applies.
Confirm the current state registration and tax position with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and note that platforms may remit some but not all of what is owed.
A practical checklist
- Check the eligibility dataset for your specific unit before anything else
- Confirm you own the unit, and in a two- or three-family, that you own all units
- Confirm you occupy it at least nine months a year, and gather the proof
- Choose the correct category: Limited Share, Home Share or Owner-Adjacent
- If it is a Home Share, check the five bedrooms or 10 guests limit
- For an Owner-Adjacent unit, confirm any other rental units are registered and in good standing with the city's rental registry
- Obtain a business certificate from the City Clerk
- Register with ISD and diarise the annual renewal
- Put the registration number in every advertisement
- Set up three-year record retention covering residency, ownership and days offered
- If the property fails owner-occupancy, consider 28-day-plus stays instead
- Confirm the Massachusetts state registration and excise position
Verified official sources
- City of Boston, Short-Term Rentals (Inspectional Services)
- An Ordinance Allowing Short-Term Residential Rentals in the City of Boston (PDF)
- Short-Term Rental Eligibility dataset, Analyze Boston
Named, not linked
- Boston's Short-Term Rental Ordinance, as codified in the City of Boston Municipal Code
- City of Boston Short-Term Rental Portal, for current fees and applications
- Boston City Clerk's Office, for the business certificate
- Boston's rental registry, relevant to Owner-Adjacent units
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, for state registration and room occupancy excise
- Your condominium documents, which can prohibit short-term rental regardless of city registration
Important disclaimer
This article is not legal, tax or financial advice. It is general information written for a non-specialist reader, by a key management company rather than a law firm.
Boston's ordinance restricts short-term rentals to owner-occupied properties, which makes eligibility the decisive question and one that depends on your specific unit and ownership structure. Fees change annually. State-level requirements apply alongside the city's. Condominium documents can prohibit the activity independently. We have corrected at least one widely repeated error about night caps, which is a reminder that secondary sources on this topic are unreliable.
Check the city's eligibility dataset and boston.gov before acting. For a purchase or a multi-unit situation, engage a Massachusetts attorney.
If you spot an error, an omission, or something that needs updating, please tell us and we will fix it.
