What are short-term rentals?

SHORT TERM RENTALS

DEFINED BY THE CITY OF KINGSTON:

Short-term Rental

(Owner-Occupied)

A residential establishment where not more than five rooms are rented to transient nonpermanent guests, for terms shorter than 30 consecutive days, without staff on the premises; and the primary residence of the owner shall be within the same dwelling unit used for the short-term rental.

See Sec 405.21.D of Zoning Draft 2.

Short-term Rental

(Not Owner-Occupied)

A residential establishment where not more than five rooms are rented to transient nonpermanent guests, for terms shorter than 30 consecutive days, without staff on the premises; and the primary residence of the owner is not within the same dwelling unit used for the short-term rental.

See Sec 405.21.D of Zoning Draft 2.

CURRENT SHORT TERM REGULATION

According to new Kingston Zoning draft #2.

(a) To legally operate a short-term rental, all hosts must pay the Ulster County Hotel & Motel Room Occupancy Tax and applicable hotel fees with the City of Kingston.

(b) Proof of payment of the Hotel & Motel tax to Ulster County before July 15, 2021 entitles the host to a short-term rental license upon payment of applicable hotel fees and registration with the Building Safety Department.

(c) New non owner-occupied short term rentals are not permitted in the City of Kingston.

(d) Short-term rentals are not permitted in accessory dwelling units.

Airbnb & STRs are not the problem.

“Short-term rentals are only a tiny piece of the affordable housing problem in Kingston”.

According to AirDNA there are only 297 Active Rentals in Kingston (the biggest percentage of which are only 1 bedroom listings).

With about 10,085 housing units in Kingston, this would mean Airbnb accounts for less than half a percent of those housing units in Kingston.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU.

The city of Kingston has adopted legislation to regulate short-term rentals which can be found -here-.

This proposal includes a ban on MOST Short Term Rentals (STRs), this includes Airbnb, VRBO, and Vacation STRs.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you wanted to rent your house for a weekend or a couple weeks while you’re on vacation to subsidize your income, you will not be able to under the new legislation.