Short-term rental permit rules in Nashua, NH — also called Airbnb permits, vacation rental licenses, or STR registration — list the application steps, fees, and operating requirements for hosting.
The City of Nashua does not have a stand-alone short-term rental (STR) permit, license, or registration program in its municipal code or its Chapter 190 Land Use Code. New Hampshire has no statewide STR licensing scheme and no statewide preemption either way - RSA 31:39 leaves the question of local STR regulation to each municipality, and Nashua's Board of Aldermen has not adopted an STR-specific chapter as of the date of this entry. The only mandatory operator credential is the statewide Meals and Rooms (Rentals) License issued by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (NH DRA) under RSA 78-A, which every operator renting accommodations for fewer than 185 consecutive days must obtain before advertising or accepting bookings. STR uses are subject to the underlying use restrictions of the dwelling unit's zoning district in Chapter 190 of the Nashua Revised Ordinances, plus generally applicable health, building, fire, noise (Chapter 201), and housing (Chapter 182) codes.
Nashua's Revised Ordinances - including Chapter 190 (Land Use Code), Chapter 182 (Housing Standards), Chapter 201 (Noise), and Chapter 128 (Construction and Demolition Work) - do not establish a short-term rental program. Searches of the city's online ordinance portal (nashuanh.gov/792/Online-Ordinances), the eCode360 codified ordinances (ecode360.com/NA2698), and the Archive of Approved Ordinances Since 2000 produce no STR-specific permit, license, registration, inspection, or operating-standards chapter. Bed-and-breakfast establishments are addressed separately in the Land Use Code (the eCode360 index lists a 'Bed-and-breakfast' entry at Chapter 190), but a B&B is a distinct lodging classification - a residence in which the owner lives and rents rooms with breakfast service - and the existence of a B&B section does not extend to Airbnb/VRBO whole-unit transient rentals. The only mandatory license is the statewide NH DRA Meals and Rentals License under RSA 78-A:4 (issued through the Granite Tax Connect portal at gtc.revenue.nh.gov). RSA 78-A:3, XII defines an 'operator' to include any person providing taxable meals or rooms - including online room-rental facilitators and individual hosts - and RSA 78-A:6, V requires every advertisement (online listing, print, signage) for a short-term rental to include the operator's M&R license number. Operators must also meet the underlying Chapter 190 use requirements for the dwelling district (residential R-40, R-30, R-18, R-9, R-A, R-B, R-C, or applicable urban / general business district), comply with Nashua's Chapter 182 housing standards (smoke detectors, CO detectors, egress, sanitary plumbing), and follow Chapter 201 noise rules. The City of Nashua's Land Use Code update launched in February 2024 (Nashua Re-Code project with Principle Group) is expected to complete in 2025; any future STR regulation would emerge from that recodification process and would supersede this entry.
Operating a Nashua short-term rental without a New Hampshire Meals and Rooms License under RSA 78-A is enforceable by the NH Department of Revenue Administration with civil penalties under RSA 78-A:7 (failure to register), interest and late-filing penalties under RSA 21-J:32-33, and assessment of unpaid tax with statutory interest. RSA 78-A:6, V additionally makes it a violation to advertise an STR without including the operator's M&R license number, exposing the host to citation and platform-listing takedown. From the city side, Nashua does not impose an STR-specific permit penalty (none exists), but the property is still subject to enforcement under Chapter 190 (Land Use Code) if the STR violates the underlying zoning district's permitted uses, under Chapter 182 (Housing Standards) for life-safety violations, under Chapter 201 (Noise) for guest-generated disturbances, and under generally applicable building, fire, and health codes through the Building Department, Fire Marshal, and Code Enforcement Division. Operating a non-owner-occupied transient rental in a single-family residential zone where lodging or tourist-home uses are not permitted by the Chapter 190 Use Matrix is a zoning violation independent of any STR program.
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