Short-term rentals in South Burlington, explained properly.

Sec. 23-4(a): upon initial registration and by April 1 of each year, registrants pay a registration fee for each rental unit in the amounts adopted by resolution of the city council, and a rental unit is not registered until the fee is paid in full. The fee resolution was not read, so no dollar amount or effective date is stated here.

Sec. 23-3(c)(1)d. A hosting-platform insurance carrier must defend and indemnify the registrant, as additional named insured, and any user in the building for bodily injury and property damage arising from the rental. Once registered, the registrant keeps the required insurance, or any greater amount required by law, throughout the term of the registration.

Sec. 23-3(c)(1)e. State tax rules themselves are covered in the State rules above.

Sec. 23-3(b)(7): the managing agent must be empowered to represent the owner or registrant in matters concerning compliance with the chapter. Registration forms also ask for the owner's contact details, the number of sleeping rooms in each rental unit, the number of dedicated parking spaces and the number of dwelling and rental units at the address (Sec. 23-3(b)). For a short-term rental, the guest handout must name the registrant and, if the registrant is not the individual, an emergency contact within the county available at all times during a guest's rental (Sec. 23-5(g)(1)).

Sec. 23-3(a)(5): all units of a multi-unit building owned by the same property owner are subject to inspection, including an owner-occupied unit that is not a rental unit, if one or more units in the building are rental units; likewise all areas of an owner-occupied dwelling are subject to inspection if any portion of it is a rental unit. The purpose is to check compliance with building and fire safety codes. Failure to allow an inspection is a listed violation (Sec. 23-6(8)).

Sec. 23-3(c)(2): failure to respond adequately within 10 business days of the City's request is a violation of the chapter (also listed in Sec. 23-6(6)).

Sec. 23-5(a).

Sec. 23-5(b) and Sec. 23-3(b)(5).

Sec. 23-5(i). Failing to acquire or display the number is a listed violation (Sec. 23-6(3)). The operator's name, address and phone number and the city fire marshal's contact details must also be conspicuously displayed in each short-term rental unit (Sec. 23-6(9)).

Sec. 23-5(g)(1) to (6). Units must also be serviced and cleaned before each new guest arrives, and guests must be provided with soap, clean linen and sanitized utensils (Sec. 23-5(f)).

Sec. 23-5(h).

Sec. 23-5(k). Noise or unreasonably loud activities that violate the City's Public Nuisance Ordinance are a listed violation (Sec. 23-6(12)). Guests may not sublease, sublicense or assign any portion of the rental during the rental period (Sec. 23-5(j)); signs or other outside indications, other than on-site parking, that a property is used as a short-term rental are also a listed violation (Sec. 23-6(11)).

Sec. 23-7 allows a civil penalty of up to $800.00 per day for each day a violation continues, each day a separate offense, plus suspension or revocation. Sec. 23-8(a) sets penalties per violation: operating a rental unit without authorization or registration number, $800.00; all other violations, first offense $400.00, second $600.00, third $800.00, and fourth and subsequent $800.00 plus automatic revocation for 12 months before a new registration application may be submitted. Sec. 23-8(b) sets waiver fees, in lieu of a civil penalty, for a person who declines to contest a municipal complaint: operating without authorization or registration number, $500.00; all other violations, first $100.00, second $250.00, third $500.00, and fourth and subsequent $700.00 plus the 12-month revocation. Offenses are counted on a 12-month basis from April 1 to March 31. An issuing official may issue a written warning, without a waiver fee, for a first offense other than operating without authorization or registration number; the warning counts as a first offense. Listed violations include renting, advertising or permitting occupancy of an unregistered unit, false registration information, failing to renew or display the registration number, failing to maintain a unit to City building, health and fire codes, and failing to allow an inspection (Sec. 23-6).

Sec. 23-7(1): a suspended or revoked unit may also be prohibited from renewing or registering for up to 12 months after the current registration expiration date. The building inspector, city fire marshal, city police officers, city zoning administrator and city manager are authorized to issue and pursue municipal complaints before the judicial bureau or another court (Sec. 23-7). Under Sec. 23-9 the City may also bring a civil action in the civil division of the state superior court for injunctive and other relief and to request revocation or suspension of a registration. The chapter is a civil ordinance under 24 V.S.A. chapter 59 (Sec. 23-1).

32 V.S.A. § 9241(a) requires an operator to collect a tax of nine percent of the rent of each occupancy. The definition of "hotel" in 32 V.S.A. § 9202(3) includes "short-term rental" as defined in 18 V.S.A. § 4301: a furnished house, condominium, or other dwelling room or self-contained dwelling unit rented to the transient, traveling, or vacationing public for fewer than 30 consecutive days and for more than 14 days per calendar year. Under § 9202(7) an occupant who has occupied a room for at least 30 consecutive days is a permanent resident. The Vermont Department of Taxes' short-term rental guidance says the rooms tax applies to accommodations offered to the public when those rentals total more than 14 days in a calendar year, and that when the same person rents for 30 or more consecutive days that person is a permanent resident and different rules apply. Local option taxes and the 3% short-term rental surcharge are separate (see the next field and each place's page).

32 V.S.A. § 9301(a) (added by Act 183 of the 2023-2024 session, effective August 1, 2024) requires an operator to collect a surcharge of three percent of the rent of each occupancy that is a short-term rental (fewer than 30 consecutive days and more than 14 days per calendar year), excluding an occupancy in a lodging establishment licensed under 18 V.S.A. chapter 85. Section 9301(b) says the surcharge is in addition to the tax under § 9241 and is paid, collected, remitted and enforced in the same manner as the rooms tax. The Department of Taxes says the surcharge is reported on Form MRT-441, Meals and Rooms Tax Return, filed electronically, and is in addition to the 9% rooms tax and any 1% local option tax.

Under 32 V.S.A. § 9202(4) the term "operator", which carries the duty to collect the rooms tax, includes booking agents; § 9202(20) defines a booking agent as a person who facilitates the rental of an occupancy and collects rent for it, including through an internet transaction, and § 9202(8) counts all amounts collected by booking agents (except the tax) as rent. The Department of Taxes says a platform listing a short-term rental is responsible under Vermont law to register and collect the rooms tax, local option tax (if applicable) and surcharge; a host who rents only through a platform does not need a rooms tax account, but a host who also rents independently must register and collect and remit the tax on stays booked off the platform.

18 V.S.A. § 4467 requires a short-term rental operator to post within the unit a telephone number for the person responsible for the unit and the contact information for the Department of Health and the Department of Public Safety's Division of Fire Safety. 18 V.S.A. § 4468 has the Department of Health prepare an information packet for operators with a self-certification form on health and safety precautions to consider before renting a unit; the form is retained by the operator and need not be filed. 32 V.S.A. § 9282(a) requires a short-term rental operator to post the meals and rooms tax account number on any advertisement for the short-term rental. Under 18 V.S.A. § 4466 the Commissioner of Health may inspect a short-term rental and the operator's records, without displacing the Division of Fire Safety's authority. 18 V.S.A. § 4301 excludes short-term rentals from the definition of lodging establishment; the Department of Taxes says lodging establishments must be licensed if they operate three or more guest rooms or units or prepare food on site, and that short-term rentals do not need a lodging license if two or fewer units are offered and no food is prepared for guests on site. Fire safety rules (rented buildings are public buildings under the Division of Fire Safety) are not covered on this page.

24 V.S.A. § 2291(29) gives a town, city or incorporated village the power to regulate by ordinance or bylaw the operation of short-term rentals within the municipality, provided that the ordinance or bylaw does not adversely impact the availability of long-term rental housing, and defines short-term rental the same way as the tax and health laws (fewer than 30 consecutive days and more than 14 days per calendar year). Read for this page: Vermont Statutes Online (which includes the actions of the 2025 session) for 32 V.S.A. chapter 225 (meals and rooms tax, including §§ 9282 and 9301), 18 V.S.A. chapter 85 (food and lodging establishments, including §§ 4466-4468 on short-term rentals) and 24 V.S.A. § 2291; and the Legislature's list of acts of the 2025-2026 session affecting Vermont statutes (2,705 entries, read October 8, 2026), which shows no 2026 change to 32 V.S.A. chapter 225 or 18 V.S.A. §§ 4466-4468. The one 2026 amendment to 24 V.S.A. § 2291 (Act 88, Sec. 43) changes subdivision (26) on parking, not (29). The statutes were not full-text searched for every mention of short-term rentals.