Short-term rentals in East Stroudsburg, explained properly.

The application must include the owner's and manager's contact details, floor plans with habitable floor space and number of bedrooms, a site plan showing on-site parking spaces (and the septic system if not on public sewer), copies of the current Monroe County hotel room excise tax certificate and Pennsylvania sales and use tax license, a signed trespass waiver allowing inspections, a copy of the recorded deed, proof that no Borough water, sewer or trash fees and no Monroe County hotel tax or Pennsylvania sales/use taxes are overdue on any of the owner's Borough properties, a contract with a private trash hauler, and a certificate of insurance. Each unit in a multi-unit building needs its own license.

Every short-term rental is inspected annually by the Code Enforcement Officer and the Rental Housing Inspector and must meet the Borough's adopted Property Maintenance Code, the 2006 International Property Maintenance Code. License renewal requires the inspection. Applying for or accepting a license grants permission for the inspections.

The ordinance leaves license and renewal fees to Council resolution. The 2026 fee schedule (Resolution No. 2-2026) sets the residential short-term rental license at $600 per unit, a late fee of $30 per unit for each additional month on top of the annual fee, $150 for each third or later inspection, and $194 per unit to reinstate a revoked or suspended license.

Overnight occupancy is limited to one family per dwelling unit. The ordinance defines a family as people related by blood, marriage or adoption, or up to four unrelated people living as a household. Day guests at any one time, on top of the overnight occupants, may not exceed 75% of the maximum overnight occupancy.

Off-street parking must meet the zoning requirements for single-family dwellings: three spaces per dwelling unit, stacked parking allowed. Day visitors may park on the street under the street's normal rules, but overnight guests must park in an approved off-street area. Expanding parking needs prior Borough approval.

Short-term rentals are not part of the Borough's municipal trash collection. Owners must have a contract with a private hauler for weekly pickup, and dumpsters are not permitted.

The owner must show a certificate of insurance for at least $500,000 of general liability coverage for the short-term rental, from an insurer licensed in Pennsylvania, and keep it in force for the whole license period.

A clearly visible notice must be posted inside the unit on or next to the front door, giving the owner's or manager's name and a 24-hour phone number, the 911 address, the maximum overnight occupants and day guests, the maximum number of vehicles and the rule that overnight guests park on the property, a warning that guests may be cited and fined for disturbances or other violations, and a statement that guests must allow inspections on request.

Advertising or accepting reservations before the license is issued is not permitted, and marketing a rental with an advertised occupancy above the permitted maximum, or promoting any prohibited activity, is a violation.

Overnight occupancy of recreational vehicles, camper trailers and tents at the property is not allowed, and guests may not sleep outdoors overnight. Guests must not disturb the neighborhood, and the owner must use best efforts to prevent and stop noise and disorderly conduct.

Violations are prosecuted before a Magisterial District Judge as summary offenses, with a fine of $100 to $1,000 per violation plus court costs and the Borough's reasonable attorney's fees; each day a violation continues is a separate violation. The Code Enforcement Officer may revoke or refuse to renew a license after three violations in any rolling 12-month period, for six months the first time and one year for each later set of three.

Monroe County charges a 3% excise tax on the consideration received by each booking agent or operator of a hotel for renting rooms to transients, under its Hotel Room Rental Excise Tax Ordinance (Ordinance 2017-1, amended and restated in 2019). A temporary stay is one of less than 31 consecutive days; a guest staying more than 30 consecutive days is a permanent resident. The tax is collected from guests by booking agents and/or operators. The County Treasurer says every business holding itself out as a hotel, including any place that advertises beds or space for temporary stays, must apply the 3% tax to each rental of a room with a bed. The Borough's short-term rental definition refers to the County's hotel definition, and the license application requires a current County hotel room excise tax certificate.

Every booking agent and/or operator must file a return with the Monroe County Treasurer by the 25th day of the first month of each calendar quarter, covering the quarter just ended, and pay the tax shown. Late payments carry interest of 1.5% a month (18% a year). Whether a booking platform files the County tax for a host is not stated in the County's pages read; check with the platform and the Treasurer.

Section 210 of Pennsylvania's Tax Reform Code of 1971 imposes an excise tax of 6% of the rent on every occupancy of a room or rooms in a hotel in Pennsylvania, collected by the operator from the guest and paid to the state. For this tax a hotel is any building in which the public may, for consideration, obtain sleeping accommodations, and a guest who has occupied or has the right to occupy a room for at least 30 consecutive days is a permanent resident, whose stay is not taxed. Rent includes all charges for the stay, including any amount charged by a booking agent. The Department of Revenue says anyone who rents out property for lodging for less than 30 days to the same person must collect and remit the tax, and that it applies to rooms, apartments and houses arranged through online or third-party brokers. Some counties add their own hotel tax, collected by the county treasurer; those county taxes are shown on each place's page.

Since a 2018 amendment (Act 109 of 2018), section 210 of the Tax Reform Code says that if a booking agent acting for an operator collects payment for rent, the booking agent must collect and remit the 6% state hotel occupancy tax and any additional hotel tax imposed under listed laws, including Articles XVII and XXIII of The County Code. A booking agent is a person or entity that facilitates or collects payment for hotel accommodations for an operator, but not someone who only publishes advertisements, and an operator includes anyone acting as a booking agent. The Department of Revenue's home-sharing page still says some home-sharing websites and brokers collect the tax voluntarily and tells hosts to check with the company who is responsible; a host who books only through a site that confirms it collects and remits the tax should not register for a tax license.

The Department of Revenue says a host who does not book exclusively through a third-party site, or whose site does not collect and remit the hotel occupancy tax, must register with the Department for a Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License through the Pennsylvania Online Business Tax registration at mypath.pa.gov. After registering, the host files returns and pays the tax electronically through myPATH. A host who books exclusively through a third-party site that confirms it collects and remits the tax should not register.