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

Do you own a place in Saugerties and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you're allowed to, and the Town wrote that permission into its own code rather than trying to zone the whole thing out of existence. Saugerties sits in Ulster County, New York, and the Saugerties Town Board adopted Local Law No. 2 of 2022 on June 15, 2022, which added Chapter 194 to the Town Code and set up a permit rather than a prohibition. The vote was 5-0.

The catch is that the permission is narrow, and it expires every twelve months. Only single-family homes and permitted accessory apartments qualify, two-family and multifamily buildings are shut out entirely, and only the person on the deed can apply. Your house also has to pass a fire safety inspection before the permit is handed over, then pass one again every year after that. And keep in mind that "Saugerties" is two governments, not one: the Town and the Village inside it run separate rules, so which side of the line your property sits on changes what you file and with whom.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly: which properties qualify in 2026, what the permit costs and how long it lasts, the paperwork the Building Department wants attached to it, the two tax layers now stacked on a guest's bill, how hard any of it gets enforced, and who to call when something doesn't fit the form. Every figure below comes from the Town's, the Village's, Ulster County's or New York State's own documents, checked in July 2026, and where I couldn't confirm something I've said so. If you're comparing a Saugerties property against markets elsewhere, run both through BNBCalc before you commit.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Saugerties

That question of which properties qualify is where most plans either survive or die, so start there rather than with the application form.

Under § 194-2 of the adopted local law, only single-family homes and permitted accessory apartments on the same tax parcel can receive a short-term rental permit. Accessory apartments have to conform to § 245-17 of the zoning law and hold a certificate of occupancy unless they're exempt. Two-family and multifamily units are excluded by name. The Town Board said why in the findings: it wanted to "maintain housing choice for permanent residents" by keeping duplexes and apartment buildings out of the nightly market.

Three more limits sit in the same section, and each one kills a common investor structure.

• Only the property owner may register. One permit per qualifying property, and a renter can't apply at all. When Ulster County Planning asked the Town to write an explicit rental-arbitrage ban into the definitions, the Board declined on the grounds that the law already does it: a tenant applying "would be in violation of the law and subject to the recourse enumerated in the law."
• The permit doesn't ride along with the house. It isn't transferable between owners, so a buyer applies fresh after a transfer of title. Budget for that in an acquisition, because you inherit the property and not the permission.
• Size is capped hard. The Town's short-term rental application asks for both numbers and answers them for you: no more than five bedrooms, and the property cannot sleep more than ten guests. Cross either line and you're not a short-term rental at all, you're an Inn, and an Inn goes to the Planning Board for approvals.

There's a fourth trap that catches owner-occupants specifically. Renting rooms out of the house you live in makes you a bed-and-breakfast in Saugerties, and the Building Department's own application process sheet says that route needs a building permit to change the use of the house from a single-family home. So the shape Saugerties actually licenses is the whole house, or a legal accessory apartment, let to one party at a time by the owner of record.

How crowded is that market already? The County's own short-term rental tracking page counted 447 short-term rental properties across the Town and Village of Saugerties against 9,370 housing units, about 5%, in its 2022-2023 snapshot.

County-wide, the Comptroller's Short-Term Rental Report 2025 put 2,827 units in service as of May 2025, 3.28% of all housing, and found that 98% of them are entire homes rather than spare rooms. Ulster's Housing Smart Communities Initiative recommends towns hold short-term rentals to 2% of housing stock, and 15 of the county's 24 municipalities are already past that. Saugerties is one of them, yet it still has no cap.

That last point deserves a caveat, because the power exists even though it's unused. Section 194-5.C lets the Town Board set a cap or limit on permits once per year by resolution, after a public hearing, based on housing and permit data, with a statement of findings.

No such resolution appears on the Town's laws page as of July 2026, so the door is open. It's a door the Board reserved the right to close, though, which is worth knowing before you buy a second or third property here.

Roughly 36% of Ulster short-term rental owners get their mail outside the county, and most of those addresses are in the five boroughs. So if you're one of them, the Bronx County guide is the useful comparison for what you'd be leaving behind.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Saugerties

Assuming your property clears all of that and you're able to move ahead, there's still the permit to get, and it's an unusual one: cheap to buy, then gone in a year.

The Building Department's application process sheet breaks the first-year cost into three pieces: $75.00 application fee, $50.00 operating permit, and $125.00 fire safety inspection fee, $250.00 in total, due at submission. The 2026 fee schedule, effective January 8, 2026, prices each of those three lines identically, so the number holds. Payment is cash, check or money order only. No credit cards, which surprises people every time.

Then comes the part that's easy to miss. Paying doesn't get you a permit.

The Code Enforcement Officer reviews the file first, and only then does the Department call you to schedule the fire safety inspection. The permit issues if that inspection passes, and not before. Once it does, you collect the paperwork in person or have it mailed, with an electronic copy sent to the owner's email.

Section 194-3 of the local law makes the permit valid for twelve months and requires the owner to renew it annually. Renewal runs $175.00, being the $125.00 fire inspection plus the $50.00 operating permit, and yes, a fresh inspection each year.

The Department's language on lapsed permits isn't a warning about a late fee. It writes, in capitals, that a short-term rental is not to be rented out once the permit has expired, then spells out the consequence: "if you are renting the property out with an expired permit, we will revoke your permit for the year, and you will have to do the process all over again and pay any associated fines." Don't forget to diarise the expiry date. The Building Department may send a reminder, yet § 194-5.A says failing to send one doesn't excuse you.

Every fourth year gets heavier, too. After the third renewal the Town wants a current homeowner's insurance policy, a new bacteria test on the well, and cleaning reports for all furnaces and chimneys.

Holding the permit then binds you to a set of operating rules that read like a neighbour's wish list, because that's roughly what they are:

• Quiet hours run 10:00 pm to 7:00 am. Three or more noise complaints backed by police reports count as a violation of the permit on their own.
• No events. Weddings, concerts and parties using amplified sound are prohibited outright, as is hosting more people than your permitted guest capacity.
• Two hours to respond. The owner or designated host must address concerns, complaints and compliance issues "as soon as possible but no longer than 2 hours from the time of notification."
• A posted directory of information has to be visible inside the unit: safety and fire information, emergency contacts, a safety and egress plan, the quiet hours, garbage and recycling instructions, and a property map showing the street address and the boundaries.
• Housekeeping details count. The address must be legible from the street and on the structure itself, bins must be stored securely against raccoons and bears, and cans can't sit at the curb for more than 24 hours.
• Changes get reported. Anything that alters what you put on the application goes to the Building Department in writing within 30 days, and a change of emergency contact within 5 business days.

Break those and § 194-4 sets a graduated fine schedule: not more than $500 for a first violation, not more than $750 for a second within one year, and not less than $750 nor more than $1,000 for a third in that same year.

Read the next sentence of the law carefully, because it's the one that hurts. "Each day a violation continues shall be deemed a separate and distinct violation," so an unpermitted rental running through a summer isn't a single $500 ticket. It compounds daily, and that's where owners get badly hurt.

Three or more violations inside any 12-month period force revocation on top of the fines, and once revoked you can't be issued a new permit for twelve months. The Code Enforcement Officer can issue an immediate violation, so your appeal route is an Article 78 proceeding in State Supreme Court rather than a friendly chat at Town Hall.

One thing to sort out early is your emergency contact, and here the Town's own paperwork doesn't agree with itself. Section 194-6 defines a designated host as an adult living within 15 miles of the property who is available 24 hours a day. The application form says the emergency contact can't be the owner if the owner doesn't live "within 30mins of the property or live in NY". The owner agreement you initial says the contact must live "no more than 45mins away from the parcel".

All three are official Town documents. So do check which standard your reviewer is applying before you nominate anyone, since the law is the enforceable text while the forms are what actually gets processed.

Now, if your property sits inside the Village of Saugerties rather than the surrounding Town, none of the above applies to you. The Village runs its own rental property law and its own building department at 43 Partition Street.

Its current Landlord Registration Statement, revised September 2024, carries a dedicated "Short Term Rental/AKA AirBnB" tickbox, asks for property damage, fire and liability insurance details, and has to be sworn before a notary under penalty of perjury. Non-resident owners get the sharpest line on the form: if you don't occupy the property and you live outside Ulster County, you must designate a managing agent who resides in Ulster County and can accept service of legal process. The form cites Village of Saugerties Local Law No. 1 of 2024 as its authority.

Village registration appears to be free, since no landlord or short-term rental line exists anywhere on the Village fee schedule. Mind you, I could not read the current codified text of the Village's rental property chapter: the code publisher blocks automated access, and the newest public archive of that chapter predates the short-term rental amendment. Call the Village code office before you assume the form is the whole obligation.

Required Documents for Saugerties Short-Term Rentals

Back on the Town side, since that $250 buys a review rather than a guaranteed permit, it's worth getting the file complete the first time. The application itself is two pages. Everything that takes time is stapled behind it.

• The application, in the owner's name. The form says "Owner(s) of Property (no LLC's)" on its first line, so if you hold the house in an entity, raise that with the Building Department before filing rather than after.
• A floor plan of every floor used in the rental. Hand-drawn is fine, as long as it's legible.
• A parking plan. Section 194-2 wants at least one off-street space per bedroom, each space at least nine feet by eighteen feet, and the Department can ask for an aerial image to check it.
• A well water quality test, bacteria only, from a licensed facility, if the property is on a well rather than municipal water. That gets repeated at every annual renewal.
• A copy of your homeowner's insurance policy.
• Your Ulster County certificate, showing you've registered with the County Department of Finance for occupancy tax. The Town won't process the application without it.
• A notarised emergency contact sheet, signed by the emergency contact themselves rather than by you.
• An inspection report for any supplemental heat source, meaning a woodstove, pellet, propane, gas, kerosene or coal stove. Cooking stoves don't count.
• The signed owner agreement, ten initialled acknowledgements covering the law, the fees, the five-business-day contact rule, and the fact that false statements are grounds for automatic denial or revocation.

Photographs, a declaration of any pool, spa or hot tub (all three are permitted), and confirmation of well-septic versus municipal water and sewer round out the form. Be aware that item 6 of the owner agreement adds one more errand that isn't on the checklist: you agree to notify the Ulster County Clerk's Office of the short-term rental, with proof if you've already done it.

Saugerties Short-Term Rental Taxes

That County errand hints at what's coming next. Once the permit is in hand and you're able to take bookings, there's still tax to deal with, and this is the layer that has moved most since 2024. A Saugerties guest bill now carries 12% in transient taxes, where it carried 2% at the start of 2024.

Charge	Rate	Collected by
New York State and Ulster County sales tax on short-term rental occupancy	8%	Booking service, registered as a NYS sales tax vendor
Ulster County hotel, motel and short-term rental occupancy tax	4%	Booking service remits to the County, operator still files
Town or Village of Saugerties lodging tax	none	n/a

Take the county piece first, since the Town application depends on it. Ulster County's occupancy tax page requires operators of hotels, motels and short-term rentals to collect 4% from the guest, stated and charged separately from rent. You apply for a Certificate of Authority within three days of commencing business, and once it arrives you display it where occupants will see it. Registration is free, according to the County's own registration page, which mails or emails the form back to the Department of Finance.

That 4% is double what it used to be. The Comptroller's occupancy tax audit records that the tax was first imposed in 1991 at 2%, and that Local Law No. 1 of 2024, passed on December 21, 2023, took it to 4% effective February 1, 2024. County receipts went from $2 million in 2019 to $3.8 million in 2023 to $8.3 million in 2024.

Then comes the part hosts skip, and it's the one that generates penalty letters. Airbnb and Vrbo collect and remit the county tax for you, and you still have to file a quarterly return anyway, even when the platform handled every dollar.

Returns are due March 20, June 20, September 20 and December 20. Records go back three years for the Commissioner of Finance, and guests staying 90 or more consecutive days count as permanent residents and are exempt. Miss a filing, though, and the County treats it as a misdemeanour punishable by up to $1,000 and up to a year, while late payments accrue a 5% per month penalty plus 1% per month interest.

The state layer is newer still. New York extended sales tax to short-term rental unit occupancy effective March 1, 2025, wherever the rate exceeds $2.00 per unit per day, and Publication 718 puts the combined state and local sales tax rate in Ulster County at 8% as of that date.

Booking services now register as New York State sales tax vendors and collect it on the occupancies they facilitate. If a platform handles all of your sales, you're relieved of registering yourself, provided you hold either Form ST-155, the Booking Service Certificate of Collection, which the platform must give you within 90 days, or a publicly available agreement saying it collects. Keep that documentation somewhere you can find it. Take a direct booking, though, and both taxes fall back on you.

Neither the Town nor the Village adds a lodging tax of its own, which is a genuine advantage over a lot of upstate markets. And your rental income is ordinary taxable income on top of all of it, so make sure your bookkeeping separates the tax you collected from the rent you earned, because the County wants those shown separately on the record of every transaction.

New York Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

None of those local rules exist in a vacuum, and the state framework above them explains why Saugerties got to write its own law at all.

New York does not broadly preempt local short-term rental regulation. A New York Department of State training presentation for local governments puts it plainly: it is up to each municipality to define, prohibit and/or regulate short-term rentals as they choose. That's why Ulster County contains towns that permit whole-home rentals freely, towns that require owner-occupancy, and towns that cap permits, all within a half-hour drive of each other.

Two recent chapters did change things statewide. Chapter 672 of the Laws of 2024, signed on December 21, 2024, created the short-term rental legal framework and pulled booking services into the sales-tax-vendor system, which is where the March 2025 sales tax obligation comes from. Chapter 99 of the Laws of 2025, signed on February 28, 2025, restructured the registry from a single state-run system into a county-level one, with a window for counties to opt out by local law.

That window closed in June 2026. Whether Ulster County opted in or out, I could not confirm. No county local law either way is readable on an official county page, and the County's occupancy tax pages say nothing about a state registry. The Comptroller's September 2025 report notes only that the County "is considering other vendors to assist with that process", which is a hint rather than a legal confirmation.

So treat a county registry as something to ask the Department of Finance about, not as a settled obligation. And don't let anyone tell you the opt-out window is still open, because it closed.

One statewide rule that gets quoted at upstate hosts genuinely doesn't apply here. Multiple Dwelling Law § 4(8)(a), which restricts class A multiple dwellings to permanent residence purposes of 30 days or more, is overwhelmingly a New York City apartment-building concept. It's real statewide background law, yet it isn't what governs a single-family house in Saugerties.

For the wider picture, the New York statewide guide maps how far the rules move from one municipality to the next, while the Westchester County guide covers the downstate end of the Hudson Valley, where hosts face a different set of rules again.

Does Saugerties Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

All of those rules only matter if somebody checks, of course. Saugerties does check, though the mechanism is quieter than an enforcement sweep and more systematic than the size of its building department suggests.

Start with the trawl. Section 194-5.B reserves the Town's right to "review websites, newspapers, and other media" in order to identify any property operating without a permit. The official then notifies the Building Inspector in writing, the Inspector researches and inspects, that inspection goes in writing too, and the owner is notified and required to cure. Your listing is the evidence, in other words, and the Town has said in its own law that it reads listings.

The annual fire inspection is the second lever, and it's the more effective one, because it's a gate rather than a punishment. No inspection, no permit. The 2026 fee schedule then puts a price on repeat visits: a third inspection, or a no-show without 24 hours' notice, adds $100, a fourth adds $125, and non-compliance after a fourth visit gets referred to the Town Justice Court for fines and expenses.

Capacity is the honest limit. The Town's Building Department page lists a Building Inspector and Zoning Administrator, Sean Weaver, who took the role after long-serving inspector Alvah Weeks Jr. retired in June 2026, plus two department clerks. The Town was advertising for a part-time Code Enforcement Officer as recently as June 2026.

Back when the law was being drafted, Hudson Valley One reported that over 400 Saugerties short-term rentals already sat in the County's database, and quoted Weeks telling the Board that his department was "swimming to stay above water" on routine work alone. A three-person department can't chase 400 addresses at once. So what usually opens a file is a neighbour, a noise complaint, or a listing that surfaces in a scan.

The county side has its own gaps, and the County says so itself. The Comptroller's 2025 report describes the Granicus tracking data as "not user friendly," carrying errors such as the wrong town for an address, missing the Section-Block-Lot number that would make enforcement possible, and shared with municipalities only on request and not promptly. Its occupancy tax audit found $251,756 in underpaid tax, penalties and interest, much of it still uncollected, and nine establishments that simply hadn't filed.

Put those together and you get a fairly clear picture. You're unlikely to be caught the week you start. You're very likely to be caught eventually, though, because your listing is public and the Town has written itself permission to read it, and by then the daily-accrual clause has been running the whole time. So watch out for the compounding. That's what turns a small oversight into an expensive one.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Saugerties

Given how much of that hinges on sequence, the order below matters more than it looks. The early steps tell you whether the later ones are worth paying for.

1. Confirm the property type first. Single-family home or a permitted accessory apartment with a certificate of occupancy, and five bedrooms or fewer sleeping ten guests or fewer. A two-family or multifamily unit is a dead end under § 194-2.
2. Work out whether you're in the Town or the Village. The Village runs a separate registration through its own building department at 43 Partition Street, and the Town's permit doesn't cover you there.
3. Register with Ulster County for occupancy tax. It's free, it must happen within three days of commencing business, and the Town application will not proceed without a copy of your County certificate.
4. Line up your emergency contact. They have to be reachable 24 hours a day, they sign the notarised form themselves, and if you don't live nearby it cannot be you.
5. Assemble the attachments. Floor plan, parking plan or aerial, well bacteria test, homeowner's insurance, stove or chimney inspection report, photographs.
6. File the application and pay the $250 by cash, check or money order at 4 High Street. There are no credit card payments.
7. Pass the fire safety inspection. The Building Department schedules it after review, and the permit issues only on a pass. Re-inspection fees start at the third visit.
8. Set up the in-unit postings before your first guest. Directory of information, egress plan, emergency contacts, quiet hours, garbage instructions, property map, and a street-visible address.
9. Confirm your platform collects. Get Form ST-155 or the equivalent public agreement, and file the Ulster County quarterly return regardless, on March 20, June 20, September 20 and December 20.
10. Diarise the renewal. Twelve months from issuance, $175 plus another inspection, and after the third renewal a fresh insurance policy, water test and chimney cleaning reports.

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

Whichever step trips you up, four offices handle nearly all of it between them, and knowing which one owns your question saves an afternoon.

The Town permit, inspections and zoning

The Town of Saugerties Department of Safety and Buildings issues short-term rental permits, schedules the fire safety inspections, and answers zoning questions.

• Address: 4 High Street, Saugerties, NY 12477
• Office hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Building Inspector and Zoning Administrator: Sean Weaver, [email protected], 845-246-2800 ext. 370
• Department clerks: Kathleen Cappello, [email protected], ext. 333, and Johna Valk, [email protected], ext. 331
• Fax: 845-246-0461

Applications can be collected in person from the Building Department lobby weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or downloaded from the department's own page. Remember that the clerks are the people who process the file, so a question about a missing attachment goes to them rather than to the Inspector.

Town records and local laws

The Saugerties Town Clerk, Lisa Stanley, holds the local law book and the meeting record, which is where you go for the certified text of Chapter 194 or for a Freedom of Information request.

• Address: 4 High Street, Saugerties, NY 12477
• Phone: 845-246-2800 ext. 16
• Email: [email protected]

If your property is in the Village

The Village of Saugerties code office handles registration and code enforcement inside the Village boundary.

• Address: 43 Partition Street, Saugerties, NY 12477-1134
• Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer, Building Inspector: Eyal Saad, with Code Enforcement and Zoning Clerk Cecelia Karashay, [email protected], 845-246-2321 ext. 4
• Building Department fax: 845-246-0887
• Village Clerk: Peggy Melville, [email protected], 845-246-2321 ext. 1

Occupancy tax and sales tax

The Ulster County Department of Finance administers the 4% occupancy tax, the Certificate of Authority and the quarterly returns.

• Address: 244 Fair Street, PO Box 1800, Kingston, NY 12402
• Occupancy tax line: (845) 340-4052
• Email: [email protected]

State sales tax, vendor registration and Form ST-155 belong to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance instead. Its Sales Tax Information Center answers on 518-485-2889, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on business days.

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

Those phone numbers cover the official side of it. What hosts talk about is how it feels to run through all of it, and the themes below are my read of public discussion and local reporting rather than any kind of survey, so do weigh them accordingly.

• The cost is not the complaint. At $250 to start and $175 a year, Saugerties is inexpensive next to Hudson Valley towns that cap permits or demand owner-occupancy. Operators who compare notes across Ulster County tend to describe Saugerties as one of the workable ones, and the County Comptroller's finding that only about five or six of its 24 municipalities cap permits or require owner-occupancy supports that read.
• The annual inspection is the real friction. A yearly fire safety pass on an old Hudson Valley house is not a formality, and the escalating re-inspection fees make a failed first attempt genuinely expensive in time as well as money.
• The entity restriction surprises investors. "No LLC's" on the face of the application does not match how most people are advised to hold rental property, and it's the single most common thing worth calling the Building Department about before you file.
• The Village and Town split confuses buyers. People assume one Saugerties. Two sets of paperwork, two buildings, two officials. When the Village adopted its short-term rental provision, Hudson Valley One reported that registration would be free and that code enforcement officer Eyal Saad planned to monitor online advertising, since the Village couldn't even access the County's list.
• Nobody argues the taxes are optional any more. Since booking services began collecting both the county occupancy tax and state sales tax, the guest-facing price moved and the compliance conversation moved with it. What people debate now is the quarterly return that's still due even when Airbnb remitted everything.

If you want to see what the nightly numbers look like before you commit to any of that paperwork, the Catskill Mountains market covers this stretch of the Hudson Valley and gives you the revenue side of the equation the ordinances say nothing about.

The broader lesson from Saugerties is worth carrying to any market you look at next. A town that writes a permit process, prices it honestly, and publishes the forms is easier to underwrite than one that stays silent, even when the silent one looks freer on paper. Rules you can read are a feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Saugerties in 2026?

Yes, with a permit. The Town of Saugerties allows short-term rentals in single-family homes and permitted accessory apartments under Chapter 194 of its code, adopted as Local Law No. 2 of 2022. Two-family and multifamily units are excluded, only the property owner can apply, and the property cannot have more than five bedrooms or sleep more than ten guests. Properties inside the Village of Saugerties register separately with the Village building department instead.

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

The first year costs $250, made up of a $75 application fee, a $50 operating permit and a $125 fire safety inspection fee, payable by cash, check or money order only. Renewal costs $175 each year, being the $125 inspection plus the $50 operating permit. The permit lasts twelve months from issuance. After the third renewal the Town also asks for updated insurance, a new well water test and chimney or furnace cleaning reports.

What taxes do you pay on a short-term rental in Saugerties, New York?

Two layers, totalling about 12%. Ulster County charges a 4% hotel, motel and short-term rental occupancy tax, raised from 2% effective February 1, 2024. New York State and local sales tax of 8% applies to short-term rental occupancy in Ulster County as of March 1, 2025. Booking services such as Airbnb and Vrbo collect and remit both, but the operator must still hold a County Certificate of Authority and file a quarterly county return.

What are the penalties for renting without a permit in Saugerties?

Fines run up to $500 for a first violation, up to $750 for a second within a year, and between $750 and $1,000 for a third in that same year. Each day the violation continues counts as a separate violation, so the total compounds daily rather than capping. Three or more violations in any 12-month period force revocation of the permit, and no new permit can be issued for twelve months afterwards.

Can you rent out a room in your own Saugerties house on Airbnb?

Not as a short-term rental. The Town of Saugerties Building Department treats an owner living in the house and renting rooms to guests as a bed-and-breakfast, which needs a building permit to change the use of the property from a single-family home rather than a short-term rental permit. Properties with more than five bedrooms and ten guests are classified as an Inn, which requires Planning Board approval.

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