Somerville, MA Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Parking Rules (2026)

Section 7-253(n) of the Somerville Code of Ordinances requires every operator of a registered short-term rental to post and maintain a sign inside the unit, at the entry level, where guests will actually see it before they park a car. The sign must cover five things: trash and recycling instructions, the city's parking regulations (specifically calling out visitor parking passes, street sweeping, and snow emergencies), the local noise ordinance, an emergency contact who can respond within two hours, and the unit's certificate of registration. The parking-notice requirement exists because Somerville is a dense, permit-parking city where an out-of-town guest who parks on the wrong side of the street during a posted street-sweeping window, or during a snow emergency parking ban, can be ticketed or towed within hours.

The city does not require hosts to provide off-street parking, nor does it grant STR guests any parking permit of their own; the ordinance only requires that hosts warn guests about the rules that already apply to every vehicle on a Somerville street. This notice duty is layered on top of the registration requirements in Section 7-254, which require a $250 fee, a primary-residence certificate, and an ISD inspection before a certificate of registration issues. A residential unit cannot lawfully be advertised as a short-term rental until ISD has verified compliance with Section 7-253 in full, including the posted-sign requirement in subsection (n).

Enforcement runs through the Inspectional Services Department, and a property found out of compliance can have its certificate suspended under subsection (j) until the violation is cured.