New licensing ordinance in West New York, NJ

[Mark_Lori0]

Fyi...

It looks like the town of WNY, NJ {07093} is introducing annual licensing fees for "boarding houses".

There's a new ordinance that has been introduced and will be voted on Sept. 20., 2023. Details for the meeting should be on the town calendar at  www.westnewyorknj.org or by contacting the town clerk. 

A copy of the ordinance is on www.westnewyorknj.org in the Ordinances page. 

[Breanna]

Hi @Mark_Lori0!,

This is some great info for fellow Hosts! You might want to share it with your local Host Clubs which you can find here. The full list of Host Clubs is over here 👉 Connect with Airbnb Hosts in your area.

[Nur785]

@Mark_Lori0 

This is indeed good news, however, I just looked at the proposed ordinance and it's not for short term rentals, it's for boarding house licensing, which is very different than hosting STRs. 

there is no provision on the timing of the boarding house, which means the current ordinance of West New York which bans rentals shorter than 30days can still hold. you can be a licensed boarding house and still be prohibited from hosting fewer days than 30. 

[Mark_Lori0]

Read my response on the other thread: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help-with-your-business/Host-in-west-New-York/m-p/1825838#M54891

And, I'm fairly certain that they're lumping STRs into the category of Boarding Houses.

[Mark_Lori0]

@Nur785 .  Agreed.  I spoke with the town clerk earlier today and she confirmed the new ordinance is for Boarding Houses, not STRs.  And STRs are not legal in this town, despite my previous comments.  Sorry for any confusion caused by those early comments...here's some further background...

Note though, that in 2018, when the Town was considering introducing an ordinance to govern STRs that one of the town commissioners stated that renting individual bedrooms in apartments is considered a Boarding house: "Comm. Cirillo stated that he
wished to make it clear that if you are renting an individual room which is part of
your apartment, it is considered a boarding house under State Code and is not
permissible".  This quote was taken from the meeting minutes at  https://www.westnewyorknj.org/_Content/pdf/minutes/2018-08-22-Commissioners-Minutes.pdf. 

So, technically the new ordinance being voted on next week could apply to a small percentage of airbnb hosts.

Further, earlier in 2018, when the town did pass an ordinance making STRs illegal, the Mayor stated that there would be a grace period given, and throughout the next 8 months or so while the town tried to put together an ordinance to allow some form of regulated STRs, it was clear that the town had no appetite for enforcing the ban, even on an ongoing basis, except in extreme cases. See https://www.westnewyorknj.org/_Content/pdf/minutes/2018-01-18-Commissioners-Minutes.pdf

At the end of the day though, that Mayor is no longer in office, and the STR ban went on the books in early Jan. of 2018.  How it is being enforced is altogether another question.

[Keysel0]

Hi @Mark_Lori0, 

I am looking into hosting in WNY. However I am not sure if is legal or not. I read STRs are not legal yet I see listings from WNY?

[Sophia]

Hi @Keysel0 I came across your comment on an inactive old thread. I'd encourage you to start a new thread to get more replies from hosts, this way more hosts can see your post and share their thoughts 😎

You can start a new thread here and ask the community for advice 💬

Also it may be worth joining the nearest Local Host Clubs to connect with fellow hosts, who may be more familiar with STR regulations in West New York 🏙

Lastly, I wanted to share this article from the Resource Center which you may find useful:  Hosting in New York

Hope these help! 😊