Are You Allowed to Use Long-Term Airbnb Booking as Residence to Satisfy "New Jersey First?"

[Alexander857]

I am an Education student graduating from a Pennsylvania university in December of 2020, always having lived in that state. I am possibly interested in teaching or taking a support role in academia in the State of New Jersey. New Jersey has a rule called the "New Jersey First Act" stating that you must move to the state within a year after taking a public sector job to be able to keep it permanently. If I do not have enough money to afford an actual apartment, would I be allowed to declare my residence to be an Airbnb booking if I was staying there long-term? Would I have to ask the person I am booking from or can I just start using it as my address? The booking would ideally be 6 months to a year until the job payments kicked in, but I wouldn't be against staying up to 2 years if the booking owner was agreeable to a renewal and I need more time to save more money. I would aim not to have anything mailed there unless absolutely necessary (would get all bills/statements emailed) and even when I needed to, I would follow whatever rules I would be provided by the owner. I would not have any secret residences outside of the state--my idea would be to use that as my sole residence until the end of the Airbnb booking. 

The reason I am thinking about this now is because I am very meticulous and everything related to this on the internet didn't exactly fit my situation.

[Sarah977]

@Alexander857  Most Airbnb hosts do not take the length of booking you are talking about. Airbnbs are primarily short-term rentals, not 6 months to 2 years. When homeowners rent for that long, they prefer to rent as a landlord/tenant arrangement, with a proper lease agreement, tenant providing references, work history, proper security deposit, etc.

And no, you most definitely can't declare an Airbnb as your residence without the host's permission- that could easily get you booted out, and would be incredibly disrespectful.

I'm not sure why you think that renting an Airbnb for 2 years would be cheaper than finding an apartment to rent, or even a room in a home that takes lodgers, which is different from being an Airbnb.

[Alexander857]

Thank you for the information.

I found quite a few bookings that at least appeared on search as being open for a year-long stay. Whether in practice I would be accepted that long is another question and I would obviously discuss with who I was booking about what they would want to do. I don't know how good I'd do in a credit check because I have never used a credit card or taken on any significant debt that I've had to pay off other than student loans currently on deferral. I would plan to have accepted a job offer before I moved but there could be a chance (especially in teaching) where I'd have to wait before I could start and get my first paycheck.

It's appreciated that you told me about the ethical problems with just declaring an Airbnb as my address. I thought I automatically became a resident of the household from initiating into a long-term booking agreement over 30 days kind of like when you move into an apartment. If I do pursue using Airbnb long-term, I will make sure to be very open and upfront with my idea and be sure to understand the booking owner's position on it.

I don't know about renting in a home that takes lodgers and I will have to investigate into that. When it comes to studio apartments, most of them are $1000+ and I can find Airbnb apartments that are in the $800 to $900 a month range in the Newark/Jersey City area which is ideally the part of New Jersey where I would want to live. While it's not completely impossible to find $800 studios, most of them in that part of New Jersey have dubious standards of quality and are in bad neighborhoods. Staying in a Airbnb allows me to be in a safer environment both inside and outside.