Somerville, MA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Sec. 7-253(d) of the Somerville Code of Ordinances sets the guest cap: a residential unit offered as a short-term rental is limited to ten guests, or two guests per guest bedroom, whichever is fewer. So a two-bedroom unit tops out at four guests even though the flat ten-guest ceiling is higher, while a six-bedroom unit is capped at ten because the per-bedroom multiplier would exceed it. This caps works together with Sec. 7-253(c), the "one party of renters" rule, which requires that a short-term rental be rented to only one party of short-term renters at a time and prohibits renting separate bedrooms, beds, or spaces to separate parties, closing off the option of listing individual rooms to unrelated guests to stack occupancy.

Sec. 7-253(i) reinforces the residential character of the use by barring hourly rentals, rentals under ten consecutive hours, and any commercial meetings or uses on the premises. Together these three subsections keep a Somerville short-term rental operating like a single household rental rather than a de facto hostel or event space. ISD, which administers registration under Sec. 7-254 and maintains the public registry under Sec. 7-255, reviews the number of guest bedrooms during its pre-certificate inspection under Sec. 7-254(e) to confirm the declared bedroom count supports the guest cap the operator is advertising.