Short-term rentals in Stowe, explained properly.

A text search of the Zoning Regulations (adopted January 10, 2024, effective January 31, 2024; 236 pages) found no use of "short-term rental". Section 16.18 defines a bed and breakfast as a single-family dwelling unit in which the resident owner or permanent dwelling occupant provides short-term lodging and meals to transient paying guests and/or staff. Section 16.99 defines a lodging facility as a lodge, hotel, motel, conference center, resort or similar facility that offers short-term housing intended for use by paying transient guests. Section 16.195 defines a transient as any person staying for a short time only whose permanent address for legal purposes is not the lodging or dwelling unit occupied. Section 16.198 defines a dwelling unit as one or more rooms forming a separate, independent housekeeping establishment for owner occupancy or rental or lease. The ordinance separately limits short-term rentals to dwelling units that pre-date the Certificate of Occupancy requirement or hold a valid Certificate of Occupancy, and the Town's registration page says a zoning permit is needed to add a bedroom or an apartment.

Section III(A) defines a Commercial Lodging Establishment as a place where overnight accommodations are regularly provided to the transient, traveling or vacationing public, including units in Ski PUDs and Resort PUDs as depicted on the maps attached as Exhibit A, hotels, condominium hotels, motels, inns and bed and breakfasts; the definition of short-term rental (Section III(G)) specifically excludes them. The Exhibit A maps are scanned recorded plats in the ordinance PDF (pages 15-17) and are not reproduced here; check with the Town whether a property is inside a Ski or Resort PUD. Under Section IV(J) an owner who disagrees with the registration requirement may appeal to the Selectboard within 15 days; the unit must meet all of these to be exempt: not required to pay the 3% Vermont short-term rental surcharge; licensed (or on a property with) a Department of Health-licensed lodging establishment and food preparation or a licensed food service establishment; a valid zoning permit and Certificate of Occupancy for a Lodging/Resort use under Zoning Table 6.1; and three or more separate units in the same building that may be rented separately and concurrently. The Town's registration page FAQ says rental days are counted per calendar year, excluding stays of 30 days or more.

Section IV(C) lists the information required: the physical (E-911) address of each short-term rental; the owner's full name, address, phone and email; the same for the Designated Responsible Person and other agents; whether the unit is the primary residence of the owner or of a tenant with a lease longer than six months (or, for an owner that is not a natural person, of a member, director or authorized representative); the number of bedrooms; links to online listings if available; and evidence of primary residency if required. Section IV(D) requires material changes to be reported within 30 days.

Section IV(G)(2): except as provided in IV(G)(3), Short-Term Rental Licenses are not transferable or assignable, including as part of an arm's-length sale. Section IV(G)(3): licenses (including Homestead licenses) may be transferred, with a new renewal form filed within 30 days, for (a) transfers without consideration to a trust in which the owner is the settlor, (b) transfers without consideration between the owner and their spouse, parent, child or child's spouse, or grandparent and grandchild or grandchild's spouse (and related trust and court-decree transfers), (c) transfers under a court judgment dividing the property of the parties to a civil marriage, and (d) transfers on the owner's death to a listed relative who will own at least 10%, with a death certificate. Section IV(F)(6) lets a Homestead license convert to a Short-Term Rental License on such a transfer. The Town's guide adds that transferring the property into corporate ownership (such as an LLC), or a controlling interest to corporate ownership, voids the license; the Town page FAQ says a buyer must obtain their own license by lottery or a Homestead license.

Section V(B) requires owners, before renting, to ensure the Stowe Fire Department has year-round, 24-hour access through a Fire Department-approved lock box or other reasonable means it authorizes. Section V(C) requires a Designated Responsible Person, who may be the owner, available and authorized to respond to emergencies and other issues while the property is rented, who must respond (arrive in person) within 45 minutes of notification by a Stowe firefighter or police officer unless excused. Section V(D) requires the Designated Responsible Person's phone number to be posted in a visible place in the unit. The Town's guide says posting the State's short-term rental self-certification form satisfies the posting requirement and that the Fire Department uses KnoxBox.

Section VII: any person who violates the civil ordinance is subject to a civil penalty for each violation; each day a violation continues is a separate offense, but liability for continuing violations does not accrue until seven days after notice. The Fire Chief, Police Chief and Town Manager (or designees) may issue municipal complaints before the Judicial Bureau. Waiver fees in lieu of a civil penalty: first offense $100, second $200, third $300, fourth and subsequent $400; civil penalties: $200, $400, $600 and $800; offenses are counted from May 1 to April 30, and a written warning may be given for a first offense. Section VII(C) also allows a civil action for injunctive relief and provides for revocation of the registration after a third-offense ticket (the end of that subsection is on a scanned page of the ordinance PDF). Section IV(I)(5): an owner whose license was revoked under Section VII(C) may not submit a new registration until 12 months after the revocation.

The Vermont Department of Taxes lists Stowe among municipalities with a 1% local option meals and rooms tax and alcoholic beverage tax, effective July 2006 (and a 1% local option sales tax from July 2023). The Department says a transaction is subject to local option tax if it is subject to the Vermont rooms tax, that local option tax is 1% of the taxable sales, and that a 1% local option rooms tax applies in addition to the 9% rooms tax and the 3% short-term rental surcharge. The Town's registration page also tells hosts to collect the Town's 1% local option tax unless a platform files and pays it.

The Vermont Department of Taxes says the 3% short-term rental surcharge is in addition to the 9% rooms tax and any 1% local option tax, and that the 1% local option rooms tax is in addition to the 9% rooms tax and the 3% surcharge; 32 V.S.A. § 9301(b) makes the surcharge additional to the § 9241 rooms tax; Stowe has had the 1% local option rooms tax since July 2006. The surcharge does not apply to a rental in a lodging establishment licensed by the Department of Health, so such a rental would pay 10%.

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.