Cambridge, MA Short-Term Rentals: Host Presence Rule (2026)

Cambridge's Zoning Ordinance Section 4.60 defines an operator-occupied short-term rental as one that is the operator's primary residence, and it builds a presence requirement directly into that status. Under Section 4.64, item 9, once an operator-occupied short-term rental operator is away from the dwelling for more than seven consecutive days, the unit loses its bedroom-by-bedroom rental privilege: it 'may be rented only as a whole unit to one party of short-term renters at any one time and not rented as separate bedrooms to separate parties.' This closes the gap between a host who is genuinely present and renting spare bedrooms (permitted up to three individual bedrooms per Section 4.64, item 5) and a host who is effectively running an unhosted whole-unit rental while away, which the Ordinance treats differently for liability and neighborhood-impact purposes.

The same presence logic underlies the owner-adjacent category in Section 4.64, item 8, which likewise limits rentals of a non-primary-residence unit to one whole-unit party at a time, never split by bedroom to separate parties. The Inspectional Services Department, which administers certificates of registration under Section 4.67, enforces these operating conditions as part of the registration the operator agreed to abide by. Registration records, including proof of primary-residence status under Section 4.67, item 1, give inspectors the baseline to check compliance with the presence-based bedroom-splitting limits during any complaint-driven review.