Newark, NJ Short-Term Rentals: Host Platform Liability (2026)

Section 18:14-7, added December 20, 2023 by Ordinance 6PSF-G, makes it unlawful for a booking service to charge, collect or receive a fee in connection with a short-term rental unless it has used the City's verification system to confirm the dwelling unit is associated with a currently valid short-term rental registration number, that the listing's URL matches that registration, and that the host and address information match what the City has on file, including the host's full legal name and the unit's full physical address.

The Department must confirm that this verification occurred, and a booking service must reconfirm registration any time it knows or should know that verification data has changed. Section 18:14-7b requires each booking service to report annually to the Department of Engineering, for every STR transaction, the public listing URL, proof of rental receipts showing how many times the unit was booked and the revenue it generated during the year, and the Department's verification confirmation, certifying that verification occurred for each transaction reported. Section 18:14-7c sets the penalties: a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 per transaction for charging a fee on an unverified listing, and a separate penalty, capped at $2,000 or the total fees collected on the property/renter/registration during the preceding year, for failing to file the required annual report.