Somerville, MA Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

Sec. 7-253(h) of the Somerville Code of Ordinances limits short-term rentals of "autonomous units" to no more than 90 consecutive or nonconsecutive calendar days per year in the aggregate. An autonomous unit is defined in Sec. 7-251 as a residential unit that is the operator's primary residence and is offered in its entirety as a short-term rental while the operator is not staying in the unit during the rental term. The 90-day figure is a hard aggregate ceiling: whether the days come from one long booking or many short weekend rentals scattered across the year, they all count toward the same 90-day total for that unit.

This distinguishes autonomous units from shared units under Sec. 7-253(g), which can operate 365 days a year because the operator remains present. ISD administers this through the registration process: under Sec. 7-254(b)(3) an operator must declare whether the unit is shared or autonomous at the time of application, and the certificate issued under Sec. 7-254(f) governs the unit for the term set out in Sec. 7-254(g), expiring the following March 31. Under the retention-of-records provision in Sec. 7-253(m), operators must keep and produce to ISD upon written request records demonstrating the number of days per year the unit was offered as a short-term rental, which is how ISD verifies compliance with the 90-day cap during an audit or complaint investigation.