Erie County does not require a short-term rental to be the operator's primary residence. Owner-occupancy rules are set by town and city codes, and some, like Buffalo, distinguish owner-occupied from non-owner-occupied rentals.
Erie County imposes no primary-residence or owner-occupancy requirement on short-term rentals; the County's only STR law is the Hotel Occupancy Tax. Whether a rental must be the owner's home is a municipal zoning and licensing decision. The City of Buffalo's Chapter 380 code distinguishes owner-occupied rentals, where the owner lists the address on a government ID or resides there at least six months a year, from non-owner-occupied rentals, which require a special use permit before a license is issued. New York State law separately bars renting an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) for periods under 30 days, which limits certain non-primary rental configurations. Operators should confirm owner-occupancy and residency requirements with their town or city.
Owner-occupancy and special-use-permit requirements are enforced by the municipality; operating a non-owner-occupied STR without the required local permit can result in denial or revocation of the local license.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Erie County, NY
Animal hoarding in Erie County is investigated by the SPCA Serving Erie County and prosecuted as cruelty by the Erie County District Attorney's Animal Cruelt...
Erie County, NY
The Erie County Department of Health treats improper bird and wildlife feeding as a rodent attractant and public-health nuisance and investigates complaints ...
Erie County, NY
Erie County does not license cats, but New York law requires every cat to be rabies-vaccinated, and the county Health Department runs free rabies clinics for...
Erie County, NY
Erie County sets no numeric limit on household pets. Any cap on the number of dogs or cats comes from a town, city, or village ordinance, while state law req...
Erie County, NY
Erie County imposes no countywide livestock ordinance. Keeping cattle, horses, goats, pigs, or other farm animals is controlled by each town, city, or villag...
Clarence, NY
Clarence Town Code prohibits keeping chickens in the Residential Single-Family (R-SF) zone unless the parcel is at least 5 acres or is located in the Agricul...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Erie County.
See how Clarence's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
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