Vermont Ordinances (2026)

Vermont law requires every municipality with zoning to permit at least one accessory dwelling unit per single-family lot as a permitted use, preempting local prohibitions. The HOME Act…

Anyone who owns bees, a colony, or a hive anywhere in Vermont must register each apiary in writing with the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and pay a $10.00 annual fee for…

Vermont prohibits possession of unpermitted wild animals statewide under Fish & Wildlife regulations. Exotic species require permits from the Department of Fish & Wildlife, and many…

Vermont's animal cruelty law applies statewide and addresses neglect including hoarding situations. Under 13 V.S.A. § 352, depriving animals of adequate food, water, shelter, or…

Vermont regulates the retail sale of electronic cigarettes and vapor products through state licensing under Title 7, requiring tobacco licenses for all retailers.

Vermont licenses cannabis retailers and dispensaries through the Cannabis Control Board, and a town must affirmatively opt in to host retail cannabis establishments, but once opted in…

Vermont state law authorizes adults 21 and older to cultivate a limited number of cannabis plants at their primary residence, and municipalities cannot ban personal home cultivation…

Commercial drone operations in Vermont are federally regulated under FAA Part 107, with Vermont law adding statewide privacy and law enforcement limits, while municipalities cannot…

Recreational drone operation in Vermont is governed primarily by FAA regulations, with state law limiting government surveillance use under 20 V.S.A. Section 4622 and providing privacy…

Vermont sets a statewide minimum wage under 21 V.S.A. 384 but does not preempt local minimum wage ordinances, allowing municipalities to set higher rates.

Vermont's Earned Sick Time Act under 21 V.S.A. 481 establishes statewide paid sick leave for most employees, with limited preemption of local mandates.

Vermont uniformly regulates construction-site erosion and sediment control through the state Construction General Permit and Stormwater Management Rule, requiring approved erosion…

Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources administers a uniform statewide stormwater permit program covering construction, operational, and three-acre impervious surface sites, with rules…

Adjoining Vermont landowners must build and maintain equal portions of the division fence between occupied parcels under 24 V.S.A. § 3802. A "sufficient" fence stands 4.5 feet high (§…

Vermont bans the sale, possession, and use of consumer fireworks statewide under 20 V.S.A. chapter 177. Only sparklers under 14 inches and listed novelties are exempt. Public displays…

Vermont requires a permit from the town fire warden for any outdoor burning of natural wood debris under 10 V.S.A. ยง 2641-2647. The warden's permit system is statutory and applies in…

Vermont's Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation may suspend outdoor burning statewide or regionally during periods of high wildfire danger under 10 V.S.A. ยง 2643. Town wardens…

Vermont permits open carry of firearms without a license for individuals legally allowed to possess firearms, subject to state and federal restrictions.

Vermont allows lawful firearm transport in vehicles without a permit, with state preemption under 24 V.S.A. 2295 barring local restrictions on vehicle carry beyond state law.

Vermont Department of Health licenses all mobile food vendors statewide under food service establishment rules. State licensing applies uniformly, while municipalities may regulate…

Vermont's statewide code requires foundations to extend below the frost line and not less than 5 feet below finished grade, but by statute it does not reach owner-occupied…

Vermont's criminal code bans gambling outright, but 13 V.S.A. § 2143 carves out nonprofits: charitable, religious, educational, civic, and fraternal groups may run raffles, bingo, and…

Vermont sets no social-gambling carve-out. 13 V.S.A. § 2141 fines any person who 'wins or loses money or other valuable thing by play or hazard at any game', friendly poker night…

Vermont legalized mobile sports betting under 31 V.S.A. chapter 25 (Act 63, 2023), effective statewide since January 11, 2024. The Department of Liquor and Lottery contracts with a…

Vermont's Common Interest Ownership Act (27A V.S.A. Title 27A) gives associations an automatic lien for unpaid assessments and fines under 27A V.S.A. § 3-116, with a six-month…

Vermont's Common Interest Ownership Act imposes detailed governance rules: 27A V.S.A. § 3-108 requires open meetings with notice and owner comment, § 3-110 governs voting and proxies…

Vermont has a true right-to-dry law. 27 V.S.A. § 544 says no deed restriction, covenant, or similar binding agreement running with the land may prohibit, or have the effect of…

Vermont's flag protection for association members sits in 27A V.S.A. § 3-120(d), part of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. It does two things: it forbids a rule about the…

Vermont's fine power comes from 27A V.S.A. § 3-102(a)(11), which lets a unit owners' association impose reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules, but only…

Vermont puts three hard preconditions in front of an association foreclosure. Under 27A V.S.A. § 3-116(m) an association may not commence a foreclosure action unless the owner owes at…

Vermont splits the question in two. A board acting by rule has almost no leasing power: 27A V.S.A. § 3-120(f)(3) lets an association adopt rules restricting the leasing of residential…

A Vermont cottage food operation needs no licence from the Department of Health while gross receipts from cottage food products stay at $30,000 or less a year, under the schedule at 18…

Vermont state law licenses family child care homes through the Department for Children and Families and prohibits municipalities from using zoning to exclude state-registered or…

Vermont does not have a microenterprise home kitchen statute creating a home restaurant with seated diners, but it does license cooking for sale out of a domestic home kitchen. The…

Vermont state law requires every municipality with zoning to permit residents to use a minor portion of their dwelling for home occupations customarily carried on in the home, limiting…

The words checkpoint, roadblock, and sobriety checkpoint do not appear anywhere in Vermont's motor vehicle title, its crimes title, or its public safety title. Vermont has neither…

Vermont sits in an unusual position: it neither grants an express right to film police nor restricts it, because the Legislature has never enacted a wiretapping or eavesdropping…

Vermont has no general stop-and-identify law. A pedestrian stopped on a Vermont street is under no statutory duty to give a name or produce identification, and nothing in Title 13…

Vermont has no statute that says an officer may or may not search a vehicle on consent, and legalising cannabis did not create one. 18 V.S.A. § 4230a shields a lawful adult possessor…

Vermont never wrote a golf cart statute. The word "golf" appears exactly once in the whole of Title 23, and it appears in 23 V.S.A. § 4(18)(A) only to say that a golf cart is not a…

Vermont state law uniformly governs how abandoned motor vehicles are identified, reported, removed, stored, and disposed of, with municipalities required to follow statutory procedures…

Vermont requires written notice before eviction. For nonpayment of rent, 9 V.S.A. § 4467(a) requires at least 14 days' actual notice, which the tenant can cure by paying the rent due…

Vermont law implies a warranty of habitability in every residential lease. Under 9 V.S.A. § 4457 the landlord must deliver and maintain premises that are safe, clean, and fit for human…

Vermont's Residential Rental Agreements Act establishes statewide grounds and notice periods for terminating tenancies, including nonpayment of rent, breach of rental agreement, and…

Vermont requires landlords to give at least 48 hours' notice before entering a rental unit, and entry must occur at reasonable times between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. A landlord may…

To end a month-to-month tenancy without cause, a Vermont landlord must give at least 60 days' notice if the tenancy is two years or less, and at least 90 days' notice if it has lasted…

Vermont has no statewide rent control, but 9 V.S.A. § 4455(b) requires at least 60 days' actual notice before a rent increase takes effect. The increase begins on the first day of the…

Vermont's rental housing health and safety program moved to the Division of Fire Safety under Act 181 of 2022, codified at 20 V.S.A. chapter 172. Landlords must register rental units…

Vermont sets no statutory cap on residential security deposits. A landlord must return the deposit with a written statement itemizing any deductions within 14 days after the tenant…

Vermont requires 15 years of possession before a squatter can claim land by adverse possession. Under 12 V.S.A. § 501, an action to recover land must be brought within 15 years after…

Vermont law under 24 V.S.A. 4413 limits municipal zoning authority over accepted agricultural and silvicultural practices, preserving farming statewide.

Vermont's Right to Farm Act under 12 V.S.A. 5753 protects established agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits when complying with Required Agricultural Practices.

Vermont imposes a 9% Meals and Rooms Tax, an additional 3% short-term rental surcharge (since August 2024), and a 1% local option tax where adopted, on stays under 30 days. Hosts and…

Vermont law restricts political signs in state highway rights-of-way and sets statewide content-neutral limits. Municipalities may regulate placement on private property but cannot ban…

Vermont banned single-use plastic carryout bags statewide effective July 1, 2020 under Act 69 of 2019, with paper bag fees and exemptions for certain uses.

Vermont prohibits expanded polystyrene foam food service containers statewide under Act 69 of 2019, effective July 1, 2020 for restaurants and retailers.

Vermont restricts single-use plastic straws and stirrers under Act 69 of 2019, requiring food service establishments to provide them only on customer request.

Under 27 V.S.A. § 544 a Vermont property owner may not be denied permission to install solar collectors by any entity that a deed restriction or covenant empowers to approve, forbid…

Vermont's Public Utility Commission preempts municipal review of grid-connected solar generation through a state Certificate of Public Good process. Net metered solar projects under 15…

Vermont prohibits the sale of tobacco products and substitutes to anyone under age 21 under 7 V.S.A. 1003, aligning with federal Tobacco 21 standards.

Vermont bans tires, electronics, mercury thermostats, paint, batteries, and other designated wastes from landfills under product stewardship laws administered by the Agency of Natural…

Vermont law requires every solid waste hauler to offer collection of recyclables, leaf and yard debris, and food scraps alongside trash service under 10 V.S.A. ยง 6605k. Variable-rate…

Vermont's Universal Recycling Law (Act 148, codified at 10 V.S.A. ยง 6605k) bans recyclables, leaf and yard debris, clean wood, and food scraps from landfill disposal statewide. Every…

23 V.S.A. § 1251(a) makes it unlawful to operate a vehicle on a Vermont highway equipped with a siren, an emergency warning lamp, or a blue light of any kind without a permit from the…

Vermont has no dash cam statute, but it does have a statutory definition of a lawful mount, and that definition rules the windshield out. 23 V.S.A. § 1095b(a)(3) says a portable…

Lane splitting and lane filtering are both illegal in Vermont. 23 V.S.A. § 1115(c) prohibits operating a motorcycle or motor-driven cycle "between lanes of traffic or between adjacent…

Vermont's plate rule leaves no room for a cover. 23 V.S.A. § 511(a) says number plates "shall be kept entirely unobscured, and the numerals and letters thereon shall be plainly legible…

A radar detector is legal in a private car in Vermont. The words radar detector appear nowhere in Title 23, the motor vehicle title, across all 27 of its chapters, and nowhere in Title…

Vermont is one of the few snow states with no calendar window for studded tires at all. The only provision that reaches them, 23 V.S.A. § 1092, bans wheel attachments that cut into the…

Vermont does not set a percentage for window tint. 23 V.S.A. § 1125(a) prohibits operating a motor vehicle with any material painted or adhered on or over the windshield, the vent…