Princeton's Short-Term Rental Restrictions Impacting Airbnbs Gets Approval

PRINCETON, NJ — In an effort to preserve neighborhood character and maintain housing in Princeton, the Council unanimously approved an ordinance regulating short-term rentals.

"This wasn’t just drafting policy. This was problem-solving in real time as a team. What you see tonight is more than regulation; it's a reflection of who we are as a community," said Councilman Leighton Newlin. "Princeton is and has always been a beautiful place to visit. Folks come here from everywhere. Drawn to the energy, the history, the culture, the feeling. But our responsibility on this dais is bigger than being a postcard destination. Our job is to make sure Princeton remains a place where people can actually live, raise families, build roots, and feel like they belong on their own block."

The ordinance has been a work in progress for years with the aim to balance four primary objectives — ensuring public safety through inspections and clear requirements, preserving neighborhood character, maintaining housing availability for long-term residents, and balancing the interests of property owners, visitors, and the broader community.

Councilman David Cohen said the group working on this ordinance was trying to sort of balance "the need to preserve the need for traditional rental housing for long-term residents as well as the convenience and need for alternative kinds of short-term rentals that aren’t provided by our hotels. I feel good about where we landed, and I think my colleagues on the task force feel good about it too."

The ordinance requires all short-term rentals to be the owner’s or long-term lessee’s principal residence.

However, a three-year phase-out period would be given to current operators to allow time to convert properties to long-term rentals or make them their primary residence.

The ordinance also establishes a permit application system where the owner or long-term lessee of a short-term rental would need to get a permit from the Princeton Rental Housing Inspections Office before advertising for rent, renting to another person or operating any short-term rental.

Additionally, Princeton is updating its existing requirements under Chapter 16 to ensure that rental properties for periods of 30 or more days will be required to register under the existing provisions of Article III, “Regulation of Rental Housing,” of Chapter 16 of the Code.

Princeton is also extending the three-percent "occupancy tax" under Chapter 15A of the Code that currently applies to occupancies of hotels in Princeton to rentals of residential property that qualify as "transient accommodations" under State law, which will likely include some, but not all, short-term rentals.

One short-term rental operator, James Moglever, thanked the Council for their work on the ordinance.

"I know the reputation that Airbnbs and their operators can have, and that it would have been easy to dismiss us. So we truly appreciate the flexibility a three-year phase-out period gives us as we each figure out our next steps," said Moglever.

Moglever also suggested a sunset or a review clause within the ordinance that builds in the flexibility to revisit the non-primary residence discussion at a later date. Specifically, he suggested a decision be made two years into the three-year phase-out period.

Newlin noted that the ordinance "is not an attack on great and good operators. This is a support of quality of life, so people can live here, raise families here."

"Every Airbnb is an opportunity for someone to come here for a minute or two and leave, but not for someone to live, raise a family, age in place, send their kids to school. That’s the problem," said Newlin. "We do appreciate everything you are doing, but you do understand our job is to protect all the people. And the people who live here are more important, quite frankly, than the people that visit."

Council President Mia Sacks said she does feel some degree of "trepidation about imposing regulations when we don’t have more data than we do. But I am comfortable with it because we all agree it is good for Princeton to have people who live in the community and are invested in our community long term."

Newlin also noted that the majority of the traffic visiting the Airbnbs are coming from Princeton University.

"Maybe it's time for the University to take a look at providing more alternative accommodations for the people who come here to visit on behalf of the University," said Newlin. "It’s not the responsibility of the residents here in Princeton to support the University's traffic for visitors to the Princeton town. That's the university’s responsibility.

View the entire ordinance below:

ORDINANCE #2025-20 by Alexis Tarrazi

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.