New Brunswick, NJ Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

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.