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

Do you own a place in Bushkill, Pennsylvania and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, it comes down to one question: do you already hold a valid permit? If you do, the good news is that you're allowed to keep renting, and Bushkill's steady flow of Poconos tourists still makes a well-run cabin or lake house worth the effort. Unfortunately, if you don't, the door's closed. Lehman Township, the municipality that actually governs Bushkill, sits inside Pike County, and it has stopped approving new short-term rental permits in every residential zone, which is where most of the area's vacation homes sit.

The moratorium itself isn't a new fee or a stricter inspection. It's a flat refusal to accept new applications. Lehman Township adopted Short Term Rental Ordinance No. 140 back in 2020, and for years it worked the way these ordinances usually do: apply, pay the fee, pass inspection, get your permit. Somewhere along the way that changed, and the township's own Short-Term Rentals page now states, plainly, that no new short-term rentals are permitted in any residential zone. One real estate source I found puts roughly 200 permits as still active and grandfathered in, though I couldn't confirm that count on the township's own site, so treat it as a rough figure rather than an official one.

So this guide walks through what's left: how the existing permit system works, what it costs to keep one current, the taxes that stack on top at the state and county level, and who to call when you hit a question the ordinance doesn't answer. Every figure below comes from Lehman Township's or Pike County's own documents, checked in July 2026. If you're weighing a Pocono property against a market where new hosts can still get in the door, run the numbers through BNBCalc first, because the regulatory picture here changes the math more than most.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Bushkill

Running those numbers only matters once you know whether you can start at all, and in most of Bushkill right now, you can't. Lehman Township's residential zones are closed to new short-term rental permits, full stop, and the township directs anyone asking for details straight to its Zoning Ordinance. That document runs to hundreds of scanned pages without a searchable text layer, so I couldn't pin down the exact amendment number or the date the moratorium took effect from the township's own files. A secondary source, a local vacation-rental brokerage, cites January 31, 2025 as the cutoff. I'd confirm that date with the township directly before you make a purchase decision around it, since it's the one fact in this guide that didn't come from an official page.

What that leaves for a new host is narrow. A parcel zoned commercial rather than residential may still be eligible, since the moratorium is written around residential zones specifically, so it's worth checking your parcel's zoning classification before you assume the door is shut. Beyond that, the realistic path is buying a property that already carries an active permit. Here's the catch, though: Section 109 of Ordinance No. 140 makes a permit non-transferable, and a new owner has to secure a fresh one from the Code Official. The ordinance doesn't explain how that squares with a residential-zone moratorium that's supposedly closed to new applications, so don't take a seller's word for it that the permit "comes with the house." Call the Code Official before you sign anything, and get the answer in writing.

If the numbers only work at nightly rates and this particular parcel isn't eligible, the practical pivot is a 30-day-or-longer furnished rental, which sits outside Ordinance No. 140 entirely and runs under ordinary landlord-tenant law instead. That's a smaller Poconos niche than the weekend cabin market, but it's a legal one, and it doesn't require a permit you may never get approved.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Bushkill

Assuming your property clears that zoning hurdle, or you're already holding an active permit, there's still a detailed licensing process to get through, even if it's not an unreasonable one. Ordinance No. 140 requires every owner to secure a short-term rental permit from the township's Code Official before renting, offering to rent, or even advertising the property, and the application fee is set by resolution of the Board of Supervisors rather than in the ordinance itself. I couldn't find that resolution or a current fee schedule published anywhere on the township's site, so make sure you call the township office to confirm the actual dollar figure before you budget for it.

Once issued, a permit runs for the calendar year it's granted plus the following year, and you renew biennially. That renewal date used to fall on December 31 for everyone, which the township found was overloading its own staff every other winter, so Ordinance No. 145 of 2021 moved the deadline to the anniversary of your original issue date instead. Keep in mind that a permit is not transferable and doesn't auto-renew, so mark that date somewhere you'll see it.

A handful of ongoing conditions attach to every permit and renewal, under Section 108 of the ordinance:

• Insurance and inspection, renewed every year: proof of general liability coverage with a $300,000 combined single limit, plus a dated inspection report from a Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry-certified inspector confirming compliance with the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code.
• A local agent, if you live more than 30 air miles from the property, who has to reside within that 30-mile radius and can be reached to handle compliance on your behalf.
• One off-street parking space per bedroom, and the number of guest vehicles allowed is capped at whatever parking the property has.
• No weddings, conferences, or similar events. The permit covers overnight lodging only.
• Your permit number in every advertisement, listing platforms included.
• A named, reachable primary occupant during every stay, an adult who signs an acknowledgment of legal responsibility and provides ID before check-in.
• A written lease for every stay, with a copy of the ordinance attached, kept on file for at least two years.

Miss a condition and the township doesn't just fine you. The Code Official can revoke the permit outright after issuing a notice and a five-day cure window, and revocation puts you right back on the wrong side of that residential-zone moratorium, since there's no guarantee you'd get a new permit approved once the old one's gone.

Required Documents for Bushkill Short-Term Rentals

Since a revoked permit is so hard to replace, it's worth getting the application right the first time rather than treating it as paperwork to rush through. Under Section 105 of Ordinance No. 140, your application to the Code Official needs to include:

• Owner information: your name, address, and phone number.
• Agent information, if you've appointed one, with the same details.
• A dated inspection report for the year you're applying, naming the inspector, their city, and their Pennsylvania Labor and Industry certification number, confirming International Property Maintenance Code compliance.
• Proof of $300,000 general liability insurance, along with a signed agreement to indemnify and hold the township harmless for anything arising from the rental.
• Anything else the Code Official asks for to show the property complies with Lehman Township's other ordinances, which the ordinance leaves deliberately open-ended.

Beyond the application itself, keep the primary occupant's ID and driver's license number, or a passport copy, and their signed acknowledgment of responsibility on file, since the Code Official can request those records within five days. The same five-day clock applies to your written leases, so make sure you don't file them somewhere you'd have to dig for later.

Bushkill Short-Term Rental Taxes

Once you're renting, two tax layers stack on top of each other, and neither one is optional just because you're a small operator. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue collects a 6% state Hotel Occupancy Tax on every short-term rental stay under 30 days, under Article II of the Tax Reform Code, Chapter 38 of Title 61 of the Pennsylvania Code. Airbnb and Vrbo have to collect this one and pay it over to the state automatically under Act 109 of 2018, which also covers their own accommodation fee, not just your nightly rate. If any of your bookings come in directly rather than through a collecting platform, though, you'll need to sign up for your own Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License through myPATH and pay that portion in yourself.

Pike County adds its own layer on top: the Pike County Hotel Room Rental Excise Tax, a flat 3% that's been in place since April 1, 2005 under County Ordinance No. 18, enacted under the county's authority in Act 142 of 2000, and unchanged as of July 2026. Unlike the state tax, nothing on the county's own page addresses whether Airbnb or Vrbo collect this one for you, so don't assume it. You sign up with Form 1, collect the 3% from your guest, and send it in quarterly to the Pike County Treasurer by the 25th of the month after each quarter closes: April 25, July 25, October 25, and January 25. Watch out for that deadline, since a 1.5%-per-month late fee kicks in the moment you miss it. A guest who stays more than 30 consecutive days counts as a permanent resident and is exempt from the county tax, which mirrors the state's own 30-day cutoff for what counts as a short-term rental at all.

Pike County doesn't carry either of the two state-administered local sales tax add-ons that exist elsewhere in Pennsylvania, so you're not paying an extra sales-tax percentage the way a host in Allegheny County or Philadelphia would. Your rental income is still ordinary taxable income on top of all of that, so keep good records of what each platform pays on your behalf versus what you still owe yourself.

Pennsylvania Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

That county-and-state stacking is the whole Pennsylvania story in miniature, since the Commonwealth leaves nearly everything else to the municipality. Pennsylvania has no statewide short-term rental license, no statewide registry, and no preemption law that caps what a township like Lehman can do with its own zoning. The General Assembly's own Joint State Government Commission confirmed as much in a March 2025 staff study, describing the state's rules as "a patchwork of primarily county and municipal zoning ordinances and regulations" and noting that even the definition of a short-term rental varies by municipality. So Lehman Township's residential-zone moratorium is exactly the kind of local decision that patchwork allows, and there's nothing at the state level that could override it.

Three bills sit in committee that would change that picture: House Bill 2303 would build a statewide "Transient Lodging" framework with tiered operator categories and a countywide registry, House Bill 1256 proposes a Short Term Rental Compliance Act, and Senate Bill 1105 addresses hotel tax reporting for counties outside Philadelphia and Allegheny. None has passed as of this writing, so don't plan around any of them. If you're comparing how differently this plays out elsewhere in the Commonwealth, our Pennsylvania statewide guide maps the overall picture. Meanwhile, the Bucks County guide and the Montgomery County guide show how a suburban Philadelphia county regulates this compared to a Pocono township that's shut its doors to new entrants. Once you know where a market actually stands open, BNBCalc's Pennsylvania market data is the next thing worth checking, since it shows what a compliant listing tends to earn in each of those places rather than just what the rules allow.

Does Bushkill Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Given how tightly Lehman Township controls who even gets a permit, it would be reasonable to expect it enforces the rules on people who already have one, and that's exactly what the ordinance sets up. The Code Official administers and enforces Ordinance No. 140 directly, and Section 113 requires property owners and homeowner associations to cooperate, including granting access to inspect documents and helping prevent rentals that operate in violation. A violation notice gives you five calendar days to cure the problem, and the same notice covers repeat violations of the same section within the same calendar year, so the township isn't required to keep re-serving you for an issue you already knew about.

The penalties themselves have real teeth, since operating without a permit, or violating one you hold, is a summary offense carrying a fine of up to $1,000 plus prosecution costs, with up to 30 days in jail if you default on payment. Alternatively, the township can pursue a civil penalty of up to $600 plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees. Every day a violation continues counts as a separate violation, and so does every section of the ordinance you're out of compliance with, which is how a small, ignored problem turns into a much larger bill fast. You can appeal a denial or a revocation to the Board of Supervisors within five days, and filing that appeal stays enforcement until the Board actually hears it, so the process isn't as one-sided as the fine amounts might suggest.

What makes enforcement here genuinely sharper than in a lot of townships is the scarcity behind it. Since Bushkill's residential zones aren't issuing new permits, a revoked permit isn't just a fine you absorb and move past. It could well be the end of that property's legal life as a short-term rental, because there's no straightforward path back in. That's a much bigger stake than the dollar figures alone suggest, and it's worth weighing before you decide a minor violation is worth ignoring.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Bushkill

Given those stakes, working through the steps in order matters more here than in a market where a denied application just costs you a resubmission fee.

1. Confirm your parcel's zoning classification before anything else. Call the Lehman Township office and ask directly whether your property sits in a zone still open to short-term rental permits, since most residential zones currently are not.
2. If you're buying a property that already operates as a short-term rental, get the permit status in writing. Don't rely on a listing agent's assurance that it transfers with the sale. Confirm with the Code Official what happens to that permit once ownership changes.
3. Line up your $300,000 liability policy and a Pennsylvania L&I-certified inspector early, since both need to be current in the year you apply, and inspection scheduling can take time during the busy season.
4. Appoint a local agent if you live more than 30 air miles away, someone who can be reached and can handle compliance on your behalf.
5. Submit your application and fee to the Code Official, and ask directly what the current fee is, since it's set by resolution and isn't published.
6. Register for both tax layers before your first guest checks in: the state Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License through myPATH if you're not booking exclusively through a collecting platform, and Form 1 with the Pike County Treasurer for the county's 3% excise tax.
7. Post your permit conspicuously, put your permit number in every listing, and keep a signed occupant acknowledgment, ID, and lease with the ordinance attached, on file for at least two years.
8. Diarize your renewal date. It falls on the anniversary of your original permit, not a fixed calendar date, and missing it puts you back in a market that isn't issuing new permits.

Who to Contact in Bushkill about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning

Whichever step trips you up, four offices between them handle almost everything.

Permits, zoning, and enforcement

Lehman Township Board of Supervisors is the first call for anything about your permit, zoning classification, or a violation notice, since its Code Official is the one who administers Ordinance No. 140.

• Address: 193 Municipal Drive, Bushkill, PA 18324
• Phone: (570) 588-9365
• Fax: (570) 588-1864
• Email: [email protected]
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Property inspections

Building Inspection Underwriters (BIU) handles the certified inspections that your permit application and renewal both require.

• Phone: (570) 344-9681
• Address: 1010 Albright Avenue, Scranton, PA 18508

County and state taxes

The Pike County Treasurer's Office administers the county's 3% Hotel Room Rental Excise Tax, including registration and quarterly filings.

• Address: 506 Broad Street, Milford, PA 18337
• Phone: (570) 296-3441
• Email: [email protected] (for hotel tax questions specifically)

For the state's 6% Hotel Occupancy Tax and myPATH registration, contact the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue at (717) 787-1064, or register directly through myPATH.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Bushkill in 2026?

Only if you already hold an active permit under Lehman Township's Ordinance No. 140. The township has stopped approving new short-term rental permits in any residential zone, which covers most of Bushkill's vacation-home stock, so a host starting from scratch generally can't get one there. Existing permit holders can keep renting as long as they maintain the $300,000 liability insurance, pass their annual inspection, and renew biennially on their permit's anniversary date.

How much does a Bushkill short-term rental permit cost?

The ordinance doesn't set a dollar figure. It leaves the fee to be set by resolution of the Lehman Township Board of Supervisors, and no current fee schedule is published on the township's site. Call the township office at (570) 588-9365 to confirm the current amount before you budget for an application or a renewal.

What happens if you operate a short-term rental in Bushkill without a permit?

It's a summary offense under Ordinance No. 140, carrying a fine of up to $1,000 plus prosecution costs, with up to 30 days in jail if the fine goes unpaid, or a civil penalty of up to $600 plus court costs and attorney fees. Each day of the violation, and each section of the ordinance you're out of compliance with, counts separately, so an ignored problem can add up quickly.

Do you have to pay hotel tax on a Bushkill short-term rental?

Yes, two layers of it. Pennsylvania's 6% Hotel Occupancy Tax applies statewide, and booking platforms generally collect and remit it automatically. Pike County adds its own 3% Hotel Room Rental Excise Tax on top, which you register for and remit yourself to the Pike County Treasurer each quarter, since no official source confirms that platforms handle the county portion for you.

Can you buy an existing short-term rental in Bushkill and keep operating it?

It's uncertain. Ordinance No. 140 makes permits non-transferable, so a new owner has to apply for a fresh one, yet the township is currently not approving new permits in residential zones. The ordinance doesn't reconcile that conflict, so before you close on a property marketed as a working short-term rental, get the Code Official's answer about what happens to that permit in writing.

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