North Bergen Short-Term Rental Regulations: A 2026 Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in North Bergen and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can, and that hasn't been true since 2023. The township, which sits in Hudson County rather than Bergen County despite the name, spent two and a half years under a flat prohibition. Then it reversed itself. Ordinance 706-26, adopted March 18, 2026 and effective 20 days after final passage, tore up the ban and put a permit in its place.

The door is open again, though it's a narrow one. A permit only goes to someone who owns the home and lives in it as a principal residence, which the ordinance measures at a minimum of 275 days in the calendar year. Rentals are capped at 60 nights per calendar year. Tenants can't apply at all, nobody may hold more than two permits, and the application costs $500 that you don't get back if you're turned down. Unfortunately for anyone hoping to buy a two-family off Bergenline Avenue and run both units nightly, that plan is dead.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly: who qualifies under the new ordinance, what the permit costs and how long it lasts, the eighteen items the application asks for, the four layers of tax stacked on a taxable stay, how hard North Bergen pushes on enforcement, and who to call at Town Hall. Every figure below comes from the township's own ordinances or from New Jersey's Division of Taxation, checked in July 2026. Before you spend the $500, run the property through BNBCalc first and see whether 60 nights covers what you're carrying.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in North Bergen

Sixty nights is the number that decides everything else, so start there rather than with the paperwork. It works out to roughly one weekend in three, and 706-26 treats each night beyond the limit as a separate violation.

So this is supplemental income on a home you already live in. It isn't an investment thesis.

Unfortunately for most people reading this, that difference kills the usual model outright. Section III(A) issues a permit only to an applicant who is both the owner and the principal resident of the property.

"Principal residence" gets a definition with teeth. You document it with at least two of a motor vehicle registration, a state-issued identification card, tax documents naming the unit, or a utility bill, and you have to live there at least 275 days a year. One principal residence per person, and no more. If the owner is an entity rather than a natural person, at least one principal or member of that entity has to live in the unit themselves.

Only three classes of property can hold a permit at all:

• Condominium, homeowners association or co-op units, where the association's bylaws, master deed or other governing document permits short-term rentals, and where the owner legally identifies an address inside the association as their principal residence.
• Single-family dwelling units, subject to the 60-night limit.
• A unit in a two-, three- or four-unit dwelling with one unit belonging to the principal resident. That resident's unit is the one carrying the 60-night limit.

Everything else is out, and the exclusion list runs long.

Section III(C) bars any multiple dwelling where rent is set by the federal housing department, by a state agency, by an agreement with the owner or developer, or by affordable-housing rules. Section III(D) then rules out hotels, motels, studio hotels, rooming houses, dormitories, clubs, convalescent and rest homes, assisted living, community residences, domestic-violence shelters, senior housing, nursing homes, foster and halfway houses, transitional housing, institutional and educational housing, religious and charitable housing, and government employee housing.

Tenants get their own paragraph, and it's blunt. Section III(F) says a tenant may not apply for a permit, may not sublet the property short-term, and it overrides any lease clause that says otherwise. Break that and the township can pursue the tenant, the owner, the rental agent and the responsible party at once.

Section III(G) then caps the whole thing at two permits per person or entity, and it closes the obvious workaround as well. You can't sit on the board of, direct, control or hold an interest in another permit-holding entity where the combined count would push past two.

There's one wrinkle worth checking before you assume you're starting from zero. Section I(A)(5) supersedes the two earlier ordinances, 610-23 from 2023 and 326-17 from 2017, except for properties that already held a valid short-term rental registration when the new ordinance took effect. Those carry on under the older rules.

The township's own announcement of the ordinance muddies that slightly, since it says previously registered rentals must apply for a permit within 90 days of the law taking effect, and no such 90-day clause appears in the adopted text. Since the two don't line up, do check with the Building Department rather than picking whichever version suits you.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in North Bergen

Assuming your home clears all of that, the permit itself is then mercifully simple: one application, one fee, one year. The Director of Community Improvements issues it, and Section V sets the application fee at $500, non-refundable "including in the event that the application is withdrawn or denied". That last clause is why the eligibility check comes first.

The Director has 30 days to either issue the permit or deny it in writing with reasons stated, so long as you provide access to the property. A denial gets you ten business days to appeal in writing to the Town Administrator, with all your supporting documentation attached. Approval buys you exactly one year from the date of issuance.

Renewal runs on the same $500, also non-refundable, and the township wants the complete renewal application no later than 30 days before your permit expires. Miss that window and you're not in a grace period, because Section VII(I) says no short-term rental may be operated, listed or advertised without a valid unexpired permit.

A permit also dies automatically the moment the property changes hands, which means a buyer starts over with a fresh initial application and a fresh $500. Same story if yours gets revoked.

Once you're holding a permit, the operating rules are where most of the day-to-day risk sits:

• Your permit number goes in every listing and advertisement, print, digital, web-based platform, multiple listing service or realtor listing. Every day an ad appears without it counts as a separate violation.
• No signage. You can't put anything on the property identifying it as a rental, lawn signs included.
• Someone has to answer the phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While the unit is rented, the owner, the rental agent or the responsible party must respond within two hours to complaints about the premises, the operation, or the conduct of your guests.
• Six things get posted inside the unit: owner and principal contact details, the responsible party and agent contacts, phone numbers for the Police Department and the Department of Community Improvements, the maximum on-site parking spaces available for rental use, trash and recycling day with the rules, and notice that guests can be cited or fined. Posting inaccurate information is itself a violation.
• Keep a log of every transient occupant, with names, ages, and the start and end dates of each stay, available to the Department of Community Improvements and the Police Department in an emergency.
• Nobody under 21. The primary occupant signing the rental agreement must be over 21 and must actually occupy the property during the stay.

Losing the permit doesn't take much either. Three things put it at risk. Unabated building, fire code or ordinance violations at the property will do it, as will a conviction for disturbing the peace or maintaining a nuisance, and so will a substantiated complaint against you at this property or at another North Bergen property you own.

Four factors get weighed in that call: the threat to public safety, the impact on the community, how the owner rectified the violation, and the threat to occupant health and safety. You get ten days to appeal a revocation, and the Town Administrator then has 30 days to decide.

Required Documents for North Bergen Short-Term Rentals

Since that $500 doesn't come back, it's worth getting the paperwork right the first time. Section IV of the ordinance lists eighteen items an initial application must include before the Director will treat it as complete, and several of them take longer to obtain than the form takes to fill in.

• Proof of who you are and where you live. Owner name, address, phone and email, plus the names and contact details of every partner, officer and director if the owner is an entity. A copy of your driver's license or state identification card confirming the property as your principal residence. Copies of the most recent gas, electric and water bills for the principal residential unit.
• Proof that you own it, and a copy of the master deed and bylaws allowing short-term rentals where the unit sits in a condominium, homeowners or cooperative association. Corporate owners add a certificate of formation and the operating agreement.
• Three signed certifications. An "Owner's Affidavit" acknowledging you've received and read the ordinance, a "Short-term Rental Property Agent Certification" carrying the agent's 24/7 contact details, and a "Responsible Party Certification" carrying theirs.
• A parking count and a parking promise. You state how many on-site spaces exist and certify that you'll make every effort to avoid or mitigate on-street parking problems caused by the rental. Renters are limited to one vehicle per two occupants.
• A clean record with the township. A "Municipal Court Compliance Certificate" confirming no outstanding fines or penalties with North Bergen Municipal Court, covering past code violations tied to the property, the owner or the responsible party, and including penalties for failure to appear. Plus proof of no outstanding taxes, water and sewer charges.
• Insurance. A certificate of general liability insurance in a minimum amount of $500,000.
• Two sign-offs from the township itself. Documentation that the property has been inspected for compliance with North Bergen's fire safety regulations and property maintenance code, and a "Zoning Determination Letter" verifying the premises aren't being occupied or used in violation of land use and zoning rules.
• Closed construction permits. Any open permit on the unit has to be closed first, although the Director can waive this where the ongoing work won't harm occupants.

Item 18 is the catch-all: the Director may require additional information as necessary. Renewals are lighter, mind you. Section IV(B) drops five items from the renewal file, provided nothing has changed: the Owner's Affidavit, both certifications, the Zoning Determination Letter, and the inspection documentation.

One practical note before you start hunting for the form. As of July 2026, North Bergen's online permit request page lists only building, electrical, fire and plumbing applications, with no short-term rental form among them, and the township's announcement directs applicants to the Building Department in Town Hall instead. So plan on a trip to 4233 Kennedy Boulevard rather than a download.

North Bergen Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you get through all that and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to deal with, and the stack is about to get one layer taller. New Jersey doesn't tax every short stay, though, which is the part most guides skip.

Under Technical Bulletin TB-81R2, the state taxes a transient accommodation in two situations only. Either it's obtained through a "transient space marketplace" such as Airbnb or Vrbo, or the unit is a "professionally managed unit", which means its owner offers two or more other rental units in New Jersey that year.

Given that North Bergen caps you at two permits and demands you live in the place, a host whose whole portfolio sits in this township won't meet the professionally managed test. A genuinely direct booking, arranged outside any marketplace, can therefore fall outside these taxes altogether. List on a platform, which nearly everyone does, and all four layers attach:

Charge	Rate	Collected by
New Jersey Sales Tax	6.625%	the marketplace, remitted to the Division of Taxation
State Occupancy Fee	5%	the marketplace
Meadowlands Regional Hotel Use Assessment	3%	the marketplace
North Bergen municipal occupancy tax	3%, from September 1, 2026	the marketplace, on the township's behalf

That's 14.625% on a marketplace booking today, rising to 17.625% once the municipal layer starts.

The Meadowlands assessment catches people out because it's geographic rather than universal. TB-81R2 names the municipalities it covers, and the Hudson County list reads "Jersey City, Kearny, North Bergen, Secaucus".

So if you're charged it while a host in, say, Hoboken isn't, that's no error. That's the district boundary.

The newest layer is the township's own. The Division of Taxation's municipal tax list shows North Bergen Township, municipal code 0908, carrying a 3% hotel and motel tax since October 1, 2003 and a 3% transient accommodations rate effective September 1, 2026. That second column is new. The Division's separate list of transient accommodation ordinances by municipality, stamped April 2026, still shows Guttenberg as the only Hudson County entry.

Keep in mind that a municipal occupancy tax ordinance has to sit with the Division of Taxation for at least 90 days before it can take effect, per the Division's own guidance, which fits a September start neatly.

Who actually remits all this is the easy part for most hosts. A marketplace collects and remits the Sales Tax, the State Occupancy Fee, the Meadowlands assessment and any municipal tax on the state's behalf, and Airbnb's New Jersey tax page says it collects all locally imposed occupancy taxes on New Jersey reservations.

Rent a professionally managed unit directly, though, and you collect and remit it yourself, after registering with the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services on Form NJ-REG at least 15 business days before you rent.

A handful of exemptions exist too. Stays of 90 consecutive days or more escape, as do rentals to ST-5 exempt organizations and rentals to federal or state government. So does a rental executed entirely by a New Jersey-licensed real estate broker, where the keys change hands at the broker's office and no hotel-style services are provided.

Your rental income is still ordinary taxable income on top of all that, and none of the above touches it.

New Jersey Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

Those four layers are close to the only place where Trenton has a view on your rental at all. Everything restrictive in this guide is North Bergen's doing, not the state's.

New Jersey doesn't preempt local short-term rental regulation. The Division of Local Government Services put it plainly in Local Finance Notice 2026-09, issued April 7, 2026: "Rental of short-term transient accommodations is largely subject to municipal ordinance."

The one statute in play enables rather than restricts. N.J.S.A. 40:52-1(n) authorizes a municipality to license the rental of real property "for a term less than 175 consecutive days for residential purposes by a person having a permanent place of residence elsewhere", with the fee set in that town's own fee ordinance.

The timing of that notice is worth sitting with. It went out three weeks after North Bergen adopted its ban replacement, and it was framed explicitly around the FIFA World Cup and America's 250th anniversary celebrations. Its stated purpose was to remind municipalities of their authority "to allow New Jersey residents to participate in the short-term rental market".

So the state was nudging towns to open up for a big summer. North Bergen had already moved the other way.

There's no statewide short-term rental licence or registry either, so nothing above the township is going to issue you a number. The only state registration in the picture is Form NJ-REG, and only where your unit is a professionally managed unit whose bookings don't all run through a marketplace.

Because towns diverge so sharply, our New Jersey short-term rental guide is the place to see how the rest of them handle it. And since the name genuinely confuses people, the Bergen County guide covers the county across the line, which is a separate jurisdiction from the one this article is about.

If the 60-night cap is what kills your numbers, the shore is where New Jersey's entire-home rental business actually lives. The Ocean County guide and the Monmouth County guide are the useful next reads there.

Does North Bergen Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Trenton may be relaxed about all this, and the shore towns may be welcoming. North Bergen is neither, and its own paperwork is the evidence.

Start with the fact that the township has legislated on short-term rentals three times in nine years. Ordinance 326-17, adopted February 8, 2017, banned short-term rentals except in owner-occupied buildings and required registration with the Building Department. Ordinance 610-23, adopted September 20, 2023, deleted that owner-occupied exception entirely, which converted the township to a flat prohibition and grandfathered only those already registered on or before September 6, 2023.

Then 706-26 reopened a narrow lane in March 2026. A town that rewrites the same ordinance that often is a town paying attention.

The 2023 ordinance also recorded what the township found when it went looking. Section 1(C) states that "based on advertisements available on the internet, there are from 150 to 300 short-term rental properties available in North Bergen. Only about 60 short-term rental properties have been registered with the Township."

So North Bergen was already counting live listings against its own register three years ago, and it wrote the gap into law.

The penalty structure under the new ordinance is where casual non-compliance stops being cheap. The ordinance sets fines assessed by the Court at up to $750 per day, and not less than $100 per day, for every day a violation exists. Five categories of person can be hit with them: the property owner, the transient occupants, the short-term rental agent, the responsible party and the intermediary.

An intermediary, by the ordinance's own definition, includes a broker, a hosting platform or a rental agent. So your guests and your property manager are exposed alongside you.

Two of those violations compound daily by design. Every day an advertisement or listing runs without your permit number is a separate violation, and every night past the 60-night limit is a separate violation.

That's not one fine. It accrues, and it accrues off the listing page rather than off anything an inspector has to witness.

Detection is straightforward too. The township reserves the right under Section V(C) to inspect a property for fire safety and ordinance compliance on a substantiated complaint, regardless of what stage your application is at or whether you have one. The unpaid-fines gate does the rest: no permit issues while any North Bergen Municipal Court penalty tied to you or the property is outstanding.

Neighbours have an obvious number to dial, as well. North Bergen's township directory carries a dedicated Illegal Apartment Hotline on (201) 392-0308, alongside separate lines for Code Enforcement, Housing Inspectors and Fire Code Enforcement.

One comparison is genuinely counterintuitive. The old 2017 schedule ran harsher at the top, at $750 a day for a first violation and $1,200 to $2,500 a day for a third. The new maximum is lower. What widened is the surface area: more people liable, more violations counted per day, and a permit that can be revoked rather than merely fined.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in North Bergen

Given how many of those tripwires are paperwork rather than conduct, the order you work through them in still matters more than it looks. The early steps tell you whether the later ones are worth the $500.

1. Confirm you're eligible before spending anything. You must own the property and live in it at least 275 days a year, with two documents to prove it. Tenants stop here. So does anyone with two permits already.
2. Check your property class. Single-family, a unit in a two-, three- or four-unit building where you're the principal resident, or an association unit whose master deed and bylaws permit short-term rentals. Read the governing documents before you assume the third one.
3. Clear your record with the township. Settle any outstanding North Bergen Municipal Court fines, taxes, water and sewer charges, and close out any open construction permits on the unit.
4. Line up the certifications and the insurance. Name your responsible party and your rental agent, get their 24/7 contact details onto the certification forms, and buy general liability cover of at least $500,000.
5. Book the township inspections and request the Zoning Determination Letter. Fire safety and property maintenance compliance both have to be documented, and the zoning letter has to confirm the premises aren't in violation of land use rules.
6. Apply in person at the Building Department, 4233 Kennedy Boulevard, and pay the $500. Expect a written decision within 30 days, and remember you have ten business days to appeal a denial to the Town Administrator.
7. Put the permit number in every listing before you publish. Advertising a property before the permit issues is its own violation under the ordinance's penalties section.
8. Set up the postings and the log on day one. All six required notices go up inside the unit, and the transient occupant log starts with your first booking.
9. Count your nights, and diarize two dates. Sixty nights per calendar year is the cap, your renewal is due 30 days before the permit expires, and the municipal occupancy tax rises on September 1, 2026.

Who to Contact in North Bergen about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever of those steps you get stuck on, almost everything routes through one building. Town Hall sits at 4233 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen, NJ 07047, and the township's main line is (201) 392-2000.

Be aware of one gap before you plan your day around a visit. North Bergen doesn't publish Town Hall or Building Department office hours on any page I could load, and several of the township's directory and department pages returned errors on this pass, so call the main line and confirm before travelling.

The permit, zoning and inspections

The Director of Community Improvements issues, denies, suspends and revokes short-term rental permits under 706-26, and applications are collected at the Building Department in Town Hall.

• Department: Building / Code Enforcement / Zoning, 4233 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen, NJ 07047
• Main line: (201) 392-2000
• Code Enforcement: (201) 392-2051
• Housing Inspectors: (201) 392-2008
• Fire Code Enforcement: (201) 392-2075

The township's own directory lists no direct-dial number under "Community Improvements", so the main line and Code Enforcement are the realistic routes in.

Complaints and enforcement

• Illegal Apartment Hotline: (201) 392-0308
• Police Department: (201) 392-2100
• Courts and Violations: (201) 392-2090
• Public Safety Commissioner Allen Pascual: (201) 392-2031

Appeals and administration

Denials and revocations both appeal to the Town Administrator on (201) 392-2027. The Township Clerk on (201) 392-2024 is the office that certifies and holds the ordinances themselves, which is who to ask for an official copy of 706-26.

Tax

• North Bergen Tax Collector: (201) 392-2017, for the proof of no outstanding taxes, water and sewer charges your application needs
• New Jersey Division of Taxation Customer Service Center: 609-292-6400, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Division of Taxation business call center: 609-943-5000, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, for Form NJ-REG: 609-292-9292

What Do Airbnb Hosts in North Bergen on Reddit and Bigger Pockets Think about Local Regulations?

Let me be straight about the sourcing on this one, because the honest answer shapes what's below. Reddit blocks automated access and its platform policy rules out the commercial use a guide like this would need, so I haven't read any North Bergen threads and I'm not going to characterise them. The BiggerPockets New Jersey discussions I could open deal with Hudson County appreciation and long-term rentals, not with this ordinance.

So what follows is what's on the public record.

The township frames the change as a compromise. Reporting the vote, Hudson County View quoted Mayor Nicholas Sacco saying the ordinance "establishes clear rules that protect our neighborhoods while allowing limited, responsible short-term rentals in appropriate situations", and Public Safety Commissioner Allen Pascual describing a permit system "with strong oversight and enforcement". News 12 New Jersey reported the same package in March 2026 and recorded no resident reaction either way.

The complaints that drove all this are on the record too, and they're specific. The 2023 ordinance lists what neighbours had been reporting: noise, traffic and parking congestion, vandalism, overcrowding, illegal apartments, and diminution of neighborhood character.

Read the new ordinance next to that list and the design intent is obvious. The parking certification, the one-vehicle-per-two-occupants rule, the two-hour complaint response, the posted trash schedule, the under-21 ban: each answers a line item.

The number I'd watch is that 150-to-300 versus 60 gap from 2023. If the real listing count is anywhere near that today, most hosts operating in North Bergen right now are unpermitted. That leaves three options, none of them comfortable: apply, go dark, or move to stays of 29 nights and longer, which sit outside the ordinance's definition of a short-term rental.

Be careful with that third route, though. North Bergen runs a Rent Control office on (201) 392-2047, and I couldn't confirm how it treats furnished month-to-month lets, so get an answer before you model it.

Timing makes this more pointed than a normal rule change. The state's own April 2026 notice was written for a World Cup summer and told municipalities they had the authority to let residents in on it. North Bergen tightened weeks earlier instead.

Before you commit to 60 nights in Hudson County, do compare it with what the rest of the state clears. The New Jersey market is where that revenue and occupancy data sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in North Bergen in 2026?

Yes, but only under narrow conditions. Ordinance 706-26, adopted March 18, 2026, permits short-term rentals where you own the property and live in it as your principal residence for at least 275 days a year. Eligible properties are single-family homes, an owner-occupied unit in a two- to four-unit dwelling, and association units whose governing documents allow short-term rentals. You need a permit before advertising, and tenants are barred from applying entirely.

How much does a North Bergen short-term rental permit cost?

The application fee is $500, and the ordinance makes it non-refundable even if the application is withdrawn or denied. Renewal costs another $500 and must reach the Department of Community Improvements with complete documentation at least 30 days before the permit expires. A permit runs one year from the date of issuance and expires automatically if the property changes ownership, at which point the new owner files a fresh initial application and pays again.

How many nights a year can you rent a short-term rental in North Bergen?

Sixty nights per calendar year, for an owner-occupied dwelling unit. Ordinance 706-26 treats each night beyond that limit as a separate violation, and fines run from $100 to $750 per day per violation. The ordinance also defines a short-term rental as a stay of 28 or fewer consecutive days, so bookings of 29 nights or longer fall outside its scope, though other township rules may still apply to them.

What taxes apply to a North Bergen Airbnb?

A stay booked through Airbnb, Vrbo or a similar marketplace carries 6.625% New Jersey Sales Tax, a 5% State Occupancy Fee, and the 3% Meadowlands Regional Hotel Use Assessment, which covers North Bergen. A 3% North Bergen municipal occupancy tax on transient accommodations takes effect September 1, 2026, taking the total from 14.625% to 17.625%. The marketplace collects and remits these. Rentals arranged directly by an owner with fewer than three New Jersey units, outside any marketplace, generally fall outside them.

What happens if you rent a North Bergen property without a permit?

Fines are assessed by the court at not less than $100 and up to $750 per day that the violation exists, and they can land on the owner, the guests, the rental agent, the responsible party and the intermediary. Advertising before a permit issues is a separate violation, and every day a listing runs without the permit number counts again. The township can also inspect the property on a substantiated complaint whether or not you have applied.

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