Palmyra Township, Pennsylvania Short-Term Rental Regulations: A 2026 Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Palmyra Township, in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and you're weighing whether to list it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can, since the township adopted a permit-based short-term rental ordinance in 2024 rather than a ban. What it actually asks of you, though, is real: a township permit, proof of $500,000 in liability insurance, an occupancy cap tied to your bedroom count, and an application fee that doesn't come back if you skip a step.

That permit stacks on top of two more layers worth planning for: a 3% Wayne County room rental excise tax and Pennsylvania's own 6% state hotel occupancy tax, both of which apply whether a guest books through a platform or straight from you. And here's a flag worth raising before you go any further, since it trips people up constantly: Pennsylvania has a second, entirely separate Palmyra Township over in Pike County, with its own zoning ordinance and none of what's described in this guide. If your parcel sits in Pike County, none of this applies to you.

So this guide walks through what Wayne County's Palmyra Township requires in 2026: the permit and its fees, the paperwork you'll assemble, the three tax layers, how seriously the township enforces its own ordinance, and who to call when you get stuck. Every figure below comes from the township's own ordinance and application forms, plus Wayne County's and Pennsylvania's own tax pages, checked in July 2026. If you're weighing this property against a market where the rules run looser, run it through BNBCalc first.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Palmyra Township

Before you run those numbers, it helps to know what kind of business the township lets you build. Short-term rentals are legal across Palmyra Township, and the 2024 ordinance doesn't carve out special zones or cap how many permits it issues. It covers any home in the township rented out for one to twenty-nine days, whether that's a single-family house, one unit in a duplex, or an apartment in a bigger building.

That local freedom is normal for Pennsylvania, not an exception. The state has no statewide short-term rental law at all, no preemption statute and no state registry. The Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission said as much in its own March 2025 study, describing the state's rules as "a patchwork of primarily county and municipal zoning ordinances," where even the definition of a short-term rental changes from one town to the next. So Palmyra Township wrote its own: its own definition, its own permit system, its own penalties. Neighboring townships across Wayne and Pike counties have each done the same, often differently. Our Pennsylvania short-term rental guide covers that statewide picture, in case you're weighing Palmyra against a township somewhere else. If the comparison you actually have in mind is a faster-growing suburban county rather than another rural one, our guides to Bucks County and Montgomery County cover markets that run at a completely different pace, closer to Philadelphia than to the Poconos.

One more thing before you continue. It trips people up constantly: Pennsylvania has two Palmyra Townships within about thirty miles of each other in the Poconos, one here in Wayne County and a separate one in Pike County with its own zoning ordinance and its own short-term rental application. Nothing in this guide applies to that other township, and none of its ordinance language should be mixed with what follows. If you're not sure which one your parcel sits in, check your deed or your county tax bill before reading any further, since the two townships' rules don't overlap at all.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Palmyra Township

Assuming you've confirmed you're in the right township, the real work then starts with the permit itself. Palmyra Township's Short-Term Rental Ordinance, adopted in 2024 as Ordinance No. 04-2024, requires a permit for any dwelling rented for one to twenty-nine days, and every property already operating as a short-term rental had to register by July 1, 2024. The permit is issued only to the owner, it doesn't transfer with the property, and you'll renew it every single year rather than treating it as a one-time approval.

What the application actually asks for

You'll submit the township's Short-Term Rental and Land Use Permit Application directly to the township office. It's picky about format, too: an interactive PDF meant to be filled out at your keyboard, not printed and completed by hand. A hand-filled copy won't be accepted. Beyond your own contact details, the form wants your bedroom count, your maximum occupants, and your parking spaces, with each bedroom needing a minimum of 80 square feet and two ways out. It also wants details about your sewage system, since Palmyra Township treats septic capacity as a real limit on how many bedrooms you're allowed to rent.

You'll also need a local contact person on file: someone who can respond within one hour of a violation notice and who lives within thirty miles of the property. You can serve as your own local contact if you qualify on distance, but if you don't, or if you'd rather not field a two a.m. call yourself, you'll need to name someone who will. Do check the occupancy math before you fill anything in, too. The ordinance caps overnight guests at two per bedroom plus three more, or fifteen people total, whichever number is smaller, and that ceiling drops further if your home runs on an on-site septic system without an approved bedroom count on file.

Fees, and what happens if you miss a deadline

Fee	Amount	When it applies
Application / license fee	$650.00	One time, with your first application
Sewage enforcement verification	$150.00	Only if you're on an on-site septic system
Annual renewal	$250.00	Every year, due by February 15

Miss that February 15 renewal date and the fee doubles. Miss it again by May 1 and your permit goes void entirely, meaning you're filing a brand-new application rather than a simple renewal. None of these fees come back if your application is denied, either, which is exactly why it pays to get the documentation right the first time instead of rushing something in.

What happens if you don't comply

The ordinance doesn't fine you the moment something's off. A first violation gets you a written warning from the enforcement officer, spelling out exactly what's wrong and where. A second violation at the same address, though, escalates into a real penalty: up to $1,000 per day, plus the township's attorney fees and costs, decided by a magisterial district judge. Two convictions cost you the permit for a full year, and a third makes that revocation permanent. Violating Pennsylvania's own sewage regulations, meanwhile, can trigger an immediate suspension on top of that, separate from the violation count entirely.

Required Documents for Palmyra Township Short-Term Rentals

Since paperwork mistakes are what sink most applications here, not some dramatic ordinance violation, it's worth walking through exactly what you'll assemble before you submit anything. The township's own checklist runs long, but almost everything on it is a document you either already have or can pull together in an afternoon:

• A copy of your recorded deed, proving ownership
• A photograph of the property taken from the road
• Floor plans showing total habitable space, bedroom count, and the maximum occupants allowed per bedroom
• A site diagram or survey map marking every structure, the driveway, any water bodies or wetlands, your designated parking spaces, and your septic system's location
• Current copies of your Wayne County Hotel Room Excise Tax Certificate and Pennsylvania Sales Tax license
• Proof of at least $500,000 in general liability insurance
• Written notice to your homeowners association, if you have one, that the property will operate as a short-term rental
• A 911 address sign and short-term rental ID, both visible from the road

If your home runs on an on-site septic system rather than public sewer, add a pumper's evaluation confirming the system is functioning properly, along with proof it's been pumped within the last three years. On a community sewage hookup, you'll provide the hookup permit and its approved bedroom allowance instead, since that's the number that caps how many bedrooms you can rent.

Beyond the documents, the township inspects for the physical stuff too. Make sure the property has:

• Smoke detectors in every bedroom and on every floor
• A carbon monoxide detector
• GFI outlets within six feet of any water source
• Metal exhaust venting for the dryer
• Fire extinguishers in the kitchen and on each floor
• Code-compliant stairs
• Barriers meeting Appendix G of the 2009 International Residential Code, if you have a pool, hot tub or spa

Budget for at least one parking space per bedroom, kept mud-free, and outdoor lighting angled away from your neighbors' property, too. Skip any one of these, and it's the inspection, not the paperwork, that will hold your permit up.

Palmyra Township Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming the inspection goes cleanly and you're able to get your permit issued, there's still tax to sort out, and it comes from three different governments rather than one. As of July 2026, here's how it breaks down, and it helps to take them in order, since each one has its own rate and its own collector.

Pennsylvania's own charge is the State Hotel Occupancy Tax, 6% of the rent on any stay under 30 days, and it applies to your Palmyra Township rental the same way it applies anywhere else in the state. Since Act 109 of 2018 took effect on January 22, 2019, the state has required booking agents like Airbnb and Vrbo to collect and remit this tax themselves, including on their own service fee. So if every booking runs through a major platform, this one is largely off your plate already. Book a stay directly, though, and that 6% is on you to send in yourself.

Wayne County layers its own charge on top of that, a 3% Room Rental Excise Tax in effect since August 2005. The Wayne County Treasurer administers it, with payment due quarterly on the 25th of the month following each quarter: late January, April, July and October. Airbnb's own Pennsylvania tax page says it collects "locally imposed Occupancy Taxes" statewide on every reservation, but it doesn't name Wayne County specifically. Going through the county's own pages, I couldn't confirm whether that collection reaches this excise tax or stops at the state level. Since I can't confirm it either way, the safer move is to register with the Treasurer's office yourself and ask directly, rather than assume a platform already has it covered. It matters for the permit, too, since the township's application won't go through without a current excise tax certificate on file, regardless of who ends up remitting the tax itself.

The registration mechanism behind the state tax, separate from the rate, is the Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License, issued free through Pennsylvania's myPATH portal. You only need to register for one yourself if you're not booked exclusively through a platform that already collects on your behalf; if you are, the platform's own registration covers you. Keep in mind your rental income is still ordinary taxable income on top of all of this, so budget for it the way you would any other income when you're penciling out the year.

Does Palmyra Township Strictly Enforce STR Rules? Is Palmyra Township Airbnb Friendly?

Once the numbers pencil out, the next real question is whether the township actually holds hosts to any of this, or whether the ordinance is more bark than bite. On paper, at least, Palmyra Township built real teeth into the system rather than a box-ticking exercise. Every rental already operating when the ordinance passed had a hard deadline, July 1, 2024, to register or stop, and the permit itself isn't a rubber stamp: the township can require an inspection, and it explicitly reserves the right to deny an application outright.

The escalating penalty structure backs that up. A first violation only draws a written warning, so the township isn't out to catch you on a technicality the first time something slips. Repeat it, though, and you're looking at a magisterial district judge, a fine of up to $1,000 per day, and the township's legal costs on top of that. Two convictions cost you the permit for a year. A third costs it permanently. That's a serious consequence for a township this size, and it tells you the Board of Supervisors expects the rules to actually be followed, not just posted on a website. It isn't a suggestion.

What I couldn't find, going through the township's own pages, is any public count of how many permits have been issued, denied or revoked since 2024, the way a larger city like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh might publish. Palmyra Township doesn't run that kind of dashboard, so treat any claim about exact enforcement volume here as unconfirmed rather than take anyone's word for a number that hasn't been read on an official page. What the ordinance's structure tells you is that Airbnb hosting is welcome here, just not on an honor system. You register, you insure, you equip the place properly, and you keep your local contact reachable, or the same rules that let you operate can just as easily shut you down.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Palmyra Township

Assuming none of that puts you off, here's the order that gets you there. No wasted steps, no wasted $650.

1. Confirm the numbers still work. Before you spend anything, check comparable Poconos cabins on BNBCalc's Pennsylvania market data, then decide whether the permit, insurance and tax stack still leaves room for a profit.
2. Verify your county. Double-check that your parcel sits in Wayne County's Palmyra Township and not the separate Palmyra Township in Pike County, and confirm whether your home runs on public sewer or an on-site septic system, since that decides your bedroom math.
3. Line up your paperwork. Pull your deed, a current photo, floor plans, a site diagram, your septic or sewer documentation, and written notice to your homeowners association if one exists.
4. Get insured and register for the tax certificates. Secure at least $500,000 in general liability coverage, then apply for your Wayne County Hotel Room Excise Tax Certificate and Pennsylvania Sales Tax license.
5. Install the required safety equipment. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, GFI outlets near water, metal dryer venting, fire extinguishers, code-compliant stairs, and pool or hot tub barriers if you have any of those.
6. Designate your local contact person. Someone within thirty miles who can respond within one hour, whether that's you or someone you hire.
7. Submit the interactive PDF application and pay the $650 fee, plus the $150 sewage verification fee if you're on an on-site septic system.
8. Post the required notices inside the unit once you're approved: the 911 address, your local contact's number, the maximum occupancy, and the parking and trash rules.
9. Diarize your renewal date. The $250 renewal is due every February 15, and missing it gets expensive fast.

Who to Contact in Palmyra Township about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step you get stuck on, three offices between them handle almost everything.

The township itself, for permits, zoning and the ordinance

Palmyra Township administers the Short-Term Rental Ordinance, issues the permit, and runs the zoning office.

• Address: 219 Oak Street, Hawley, PA 18428
• General phone: 570-226-6566
• Zoning phone: 570-226-6558
• Fax: 570-226-6346
• Email: [email protected] (general), [email protected] (zoning)
• Zoning office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.
• Online: the Short Term Rentals page carries both the ordinance and the current application

Wayne County, for the room rental excise tax

The Wayne County Treasurer's Office, housed at the county courthouse, administers the 3% Room Rental Excise Tax.

• Address: 925 Court Street, Honesdale, PA 18431
• Phone: 570-253-5970
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Online: the Room Rental Excise Tax page

I couldn't find a direct line published for the Treasurer specifically, separate from the courthouse's general number, so call the number above and ask to be routed there rather than guessing at an extension.

Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, for state hotel occupancy tax

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue handles the state's 6% Hotel Occupancy Tax and the Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License.

• Phone: 717-787-1064
• Online: register or file through myPATH

Of the three, though, it's the township office that's worth calling first, since the person who actually answers that Monday morning line usually knows your road by name. Remember that the next time a permit question feels like it's going nowhere on some bigger city's automated phone tree.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Palmyra Township, Pennsylvania in 2026?

Yes, in Wayne County's Palmyra Township specifically. The township's 2024 ordinance permits short-term rentals of one to twenty-nine days once you hold a permit, carry at least $500,000 in liability insurance, meet its occupancy and safety requirements, and register your tax certificates. There's no ban and no zoning restriction limiting where a permit can be issued, so eligibility comes down to meeting the ordinance's requirements rather than where your property sits in the township.

How much does a Palmyra Township short-term rental permit cost?

The one-time application and license fee is $650, plus $150 more if the township needs to verify an on-site septic system. After that, renewal costs $250 every year, due by February 15. Miss that date and the renewal fee doubles; miss it again by May 1 and the permit goes void, meaning you'd need to file a brand-new application rather than a simple renewal.

What taxes do you have to pay on a Palmyra Township short-term rental?

Three layers apply: Pennsylvania's 6% State Hotel Occupancy Tax, Wayne County's 3% Room Rental Excise Tax, and ordinary income tax on the rental income itself. Airbnb and similar platforms are required to collect and remit the state tax automatically under Act 109. Whether they reach the county excise tax specifically couldn't be confirmed from an official source, so register directly with the Wayne County Treasurer to be sure.

What happens if you don't get a permit before renting in Palmyra Township?

The ordinance treats operating without a permit as a violation, subject to the same escalating penalty structure as any other breach. A written warning comes first, then fines of up to $1,000 per day for repeat violations, decided by a magisterial district judge, plus the township's legal costs. Since every property already renting before 2024 had to register by July 1 of that year, an unpermitted listing today has no grace period to point to.

Is Palmyra Township, Wayne County, the same as Palmyra Township, Pike County?

No, and mixing them up is an easy mistake in the Poconos. They're two separate townships roughly thirty miles apart, each with its own zoning ordinance, its own short-term rental application, and its own local government. This guide covers only Wayne County's Palmyra Township. If your property sits in Pike County, check with that township's own zoning office directly, since none of the fees, forms or contacts above apply there.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.