"Neighborhood Protection and Housing Affordability Act"; prohibits short-term rental of transient accommodations in exclusively residential zones unless authorized by municipality.

A1412

ASSEMBLY, No. 1412

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman ELLEN J. PARK

District 37 (Bergen)

SYNOPSIS

���� "Neighborhood Protection and Housing
Affordability Act"; prohibits short-term rental of transient
accommodations in exclusively residential zones unless authorized by
municipality.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning short-term rentals of transient
accommodations in residential zones and supplementing P.L.1975, c.291
(C.40:55D-1 et seq.).

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� This act shall be known
and may be cited as the �Neighborhood Protection and Housing Affordability
Act.�

���� 2.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:

���� a.� The rise and growth of transient
space marketplaces such as Airbnb, HomeAway, and FlipKey, has caused debate
among local governments, the hotel industry, the real estate lobby, housing
activists, and local residents, about the impact that short-term rentals have
on the availability and affordability of long-term rental housing and for-sale
housing.

���� b.� Academic research justifies
concerns about the impact of short-term rentals on housing affordability and
availability, indicating the need to adopt best practices to better regulate the
short-term rental industry.

���� c.� Short-term rentals reduce
the affordable housing supply in at least two ways:�

���� (1)� Each housing unit that
was previously a long-term rental, but is now listed year-round as a short-term
rental through a transient space marketplace, has been removed from the
long-term rental market and has essentially been added to the community�s
supply of hotel rooms.� This "conversion" of long-term rental units
to short-term rental units often leads to increases in rent and reductions in
the supply of affordable housing; and

���� (2)� Market conditions that
enable a property owner to rent out a short-term dwelling unit through a
transient space marketplace for less than the cost of a hotel room, but more
than the owner may derive from renting the unit long-term, incentivizes
property owners to list units for short-term rental on a transient space
marketplace rather than renting units long-term to local residents.� This
circumstance is a cause of decreases in the supply of housing.

���� d.� According to a 2016
University of Massachusetts study concerning the impact of short-term rentals
on the availability and affordability of housing in Boston, the growth of the
short-term rental industry has decreased the supply of dwelling units available
to potential long-term residents, and increased asking rents for long-term
rental units.

���� e.� Another independent
academic study, published by researchers at the National Bureau of Economic
Research, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of
Southern California concluded that on a national basis "a 10 percent
increase in Airbnb listings leads to a 0.42 percent increase in rents and a
0.76 percent increase in house prices."�

���� f.� The short-term rental
industry has grown by more than 800 percent since 2011.� Since a 10 percent
increase in the number of short-term rental listings was found to lead to a
0.42 percent increase in rents, an 800 percent increase in short-term rental
listings since 2011 may be responsible for a 33.6 percent increase in rents
over that same time period, although the median household income in the United
States grew only 18 percent between 2011 and 2016.

���� g.� Although the expansion of
the short-term rental market through their use of transient space marketplaces
may enable property owners to maximize the income they may derive from renting
their units, expansion of the short-term rental market has made it more
difficult for local residents of a community to rent and reside in a dwelling
unit in their community.

���� h.� It is therefore necessary
and appropriate to enhance the ability of local governments to regulate
short-term rentals of property through transient space marketplaces, thereby
encouraging the development and occupancy of dwelling units in residential
areas for long-term occupancy.

���� 3.� a.� As used in this
section:

���� �Obtained through a transient
space marketplace� means that payment for the accommodation is made through a
means provided by the marketplace or travel agency, either directly or
indirectly, regardless of which person or entity receives the payment, and
where the contracting for the accommodation is made through the marketplace or
travel agency.

���� �Professionally managed unit�
means a room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space for the lodging
of occupants in the State, that is offered for rent as a rental unit that does
not share any living or sleeping space with any other rental unit, and that is
directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a person offering for rent two or
more other units during the calendar year.

���� �Transient accommodation�
means a room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space for the lodging
of occupants, including but not limited to residences or buildings used as
residences, that is obtained through a transient space marketplace or is a
professionally managed unit.� "Transient accommodation" does not
include: a hotel or hotel room; a room, group of rooms, or other living or
sleeping space used as a place of assembly; a dormitory or other similar
residential facility of an elementary school, secondary school, college, or
university; a hospital, nursing home, or other similar residential facility of
a provider of services for the care, support and treatment of individuals that
is licensed by the State; a campsite, cabin, lean-to, or other similar
residential facility of a campground or of an adult or youth camp; a furnished
or unfurnished private residential property, including but not limited to
condominiums, bungalows, single-family homes and similar living units, where no
maid service, room service, linen-changing service, or other common hotel
services are made available by the lessor, and where the keys to the furnished
or unfurnished private residential property, whether a physical key, access to
a keyless locking mechanism, or other means of physical ingress to the
furnished or unfurnished private residential property, are provided to the
lessee at the location of an offsite real estate broker licensed by the New
Jersey Real Estate Commission pursuant to R.S.45:15-1 et seq.; or leases of
real property with a term of at least 90 consecutive days.

���� �Transient space marketplace�
means a marketplace or travel agency through which a person may offer transient
accommodations to customers and through which customers may arrange for the
occupancy of transient accommodations.� �Transient space marketplace� does not
include a marketplace or travel agency that exclusively offers transient
accommodations in the State owned by the owner of the marketplace or travel
agency.

���� b.��� A zoning ordinance may
provide that buildings and structures located within specified districts shall
be used exclusively for residential purposes, and may further specify areas
within each such district within which buildings and structures, or parts thereof,
may be rented for a short term as a transient accommodation.� The total land
area within which a zoning ordinance may specifically authorize the use of a
building or structure as a transient accommodation shall not exceed 25 percent
of the total land area of the municipality.

���� c.���� A person shall not
offer occupancy of a transient accommodation, nor contract for the short-term
rental of a transient accommodation, if the building or structure is located
within an area zoned exclusively for residential purposes, unless the
applicable zoning ordinance specifically authorizes the use of that building or
structure as a transient accommodation.

���� d.��� A person who violates
the provisions of this section shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more
than $250 for a first offense, not more than $500 for a second offense, and not
more than $1,000 for a third and every subsequent offense, which shall be
collected in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction
pursuant to the provisions of the �Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,� P.L.1999,
c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).

���� e.� (1)� An action for the
recovery of a civil penalty for violation of this section, or of an ordinance
adopted pursuant thereto, shall be within the jurisdiction of and may be
brought before the Superior Court or municipal court for the municipality in
which the property is located.�

���� (2)� Monies collected pursuant
to this section, or an ordinance adopted pursuant thereto, shall be forwarded
to the municipality in which the property is located.� The municipality in
which the property is located:

���� (a)� may deposit an amount
equivalent to the costs reasonably incurred in administering and enforcing this
section into the general fund of the municipality; and

���� (b)� shall deposit the balance
of the amount collected into the affordable housing trust fund of the
municipality for use on low-income housing or moderate-income housing needs, as
defined in section 4 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-304), to the extent the
municipality maintains such a fund, and if the municipality does not maintain
such a fund, to the State Treasurer, for appropriation to the �New Jersey
Affordable Housing Trust Fund,� section 20 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-320),
for the purpose of developing and supporting housing programs that create
for-sale and rental affordable housing.�

���� 4.� This act shall take effect
on the first day of the third month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill provides that a
municipal zoning ordinance may specify areas of the municipality within which
all buildings and structures are required to be exclusively used for
residential purposes.� Additionally, the bill authorizes a municipal zoning
ordinance to further specify areas in each exclusively residential district
within which buildings and structures, or parts thereof, may be rented for a
short term as a transient accommodation, so long as the total land area in
which property may be rented for a short term as a transient accommodation does
not exceed 25 percent of the municipality�s total land area.�

���� The bill also prohibits
buildings and structures, and parts thereof, located within areas zoned
exclusively for residential purposes from being rented for a short term as a
transient accommodation, unless the municipal zoning ordinance specifically
authorizes the use of that building or structure as a transient accommodation.

���� A person who violates the
provisions of this bill would be liable to pay a civil penalty of not less than
$500 for a first offense, not more than $1,000 for a second offense and not
more than $1,500 for a third and every subsequent offense.� Penalties are to be
collected in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction
pursuant to the provisions of the �Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,� P.L.1999,
c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).

���� An action for the recovery of
a civil penalty for a violation under the bill, or under an ordinance adopted
pursuant thereto, is within the jurisdiction of, and may be brought before, the
Superior Court or municipal court for the municipality in which the property is
located.� All monies collected pursuant to the bill or an ordinance adopted
pursuant thereto, are to be forwarded to the municipality in which the property
is located.� The bill allows a municipality to use an amount equivalent to the
costs reasonably incurred in administering and enforcing the bill and to
deposit that amount into the general fund of the municipality.� The bill
further requires a municipality to use the balance of the amount collected for
low-income housing or moderate-income housing needs, as defined in section 4 of
P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-304), and to deposit the balance of the amount
collected into the municipality�s affordable housing trust fund, to the extent
the municipality maintains such a fund, and if the municipality does not
maintain such a fund, to the State Treasurer, for appropriation to the �New
Jersey Affordable Housing Trust Fund� for the purpose of developing and
supporting housing programs that create for-sale and rental affordable housing.