New Brunswick does not impose a short-term rental specific occupancy cap. STRs are exempt from the Chapter 5.80 Rent Control rental registration as 'units kept primarily for secondary residential occupancy' (motels/hotels and pied-a-terre). Guest counts are governed instead by the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code (NJAC 5:23) habitable-space minimums and any rooming-house licensing.
New Brunswick's Rent Control ordinance, Chapter 5.80 of the Municipal Code, expressly exempts 'motels/hotels' and 'units kept primarily for secondary residential occupancy, such as a pied-a-terre or vacation home,' along with licensed rooming houses and Rutgers-registered fraternities and sororities; the city has not adopted a separate short-term rental occupancy formula. As a result, the controlling occupancy standard for an Airbnb or Vrbo guest is the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code (NJAC 5:23) habitable-space and sleeping-room minimums applied through the local Construction Office, plus any rooming-house license requirement if the property is rented by the room to unrelated occupants. New Brunswick has historically used rental dwelling registration with an annual April 1 deadline (Chapter 5.80) and a separate Construction-Office Certificate of Occupancy regime; landlords renting to students near Rutgers are routinely cited under those programs rather than under any STR cap. Confirm the current per-unit maximum occupancy, rooming-house threshold, and any newly enacted STR ordinance with the New Brunswick Rent Control Office at 732-745-5050 and the Construction Office before listing.
Without a dedicated STR cap, enforcement is driven by NJAC 5:23 habitable-space minimums, the rental dwelling registration in Chapter 5.80, and any rooming-house licensing. Penalties include rental registration revocation, certificate of occupancy denial, and the general municipal penalty under NJSA 40:49-5; confirm current fine amounts with the Construction Office.
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