Union City, NJ Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Chapter 296 of the Union City Code (Peace and Good Order), Article V (Short-Term Vacation Rentals in Residential Properties Prohibited), defines a vacation rental as the rental of any dwelling unit, in whole or in part, to any person(s) for exclusive transient use of 30 consecutive days or less, where the unit is approved only for permanent residential occupancy and not for transient occupancy. Section 296-13 makes such rentals unlawful in residential property, and the City does not issue STR permits or licenses. Because the use itself is barred, the City has not adopted STR-specific maximum occupancy standards (such as the common '2 persons per bedroom + 2' rule used in cities that license STRs) and has no STR overcrowding-by-headcount provision. The number of permanent residents who may lawfully occupy a Union City dwelling is instead governed by the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code (N.J.A.C. 5:23) and the Property Maintenance Code (N.J.A.C. 5:10), which set minimum-square-footage-per-person requirements for sleeping rooms and habitable space, and by Chapter 329 (Rental Property) for lawful long-term rentals. Hudson County is one of the most densely populated counties in the United States, and Union City itself is among the most densely populated incorporated cities in the country (~65,000 people per square mile), which is part of the rationale for the categorical STR ban. New Jersey has no statewide STR preemption: under home-rule authority and the Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.), a municipality may prohibit STRs entirely, and Union City has done so. State transient-accommodations taxes under N.J.S.A. 54:32D-1 (5% State Occupancy Fee) and the Sales and Use Tax Act (6.625% sales tax under N.J.S.A. 54:32B-3) presuppose a lawful rental; they do not create an STR right where the local code bans the use.