Trenton, NJ Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Trenton City Code § 228-8 sets the financial terms for operating a short-term rental. Subsection A imposes a 1% municipal occupancy tax, collected by the City on top of any state hotel/motel or sales tax that already applies to short-term stays. Subsection B sets the entry cost for hosts: a $300 registration fee to get a unit listed on the Short-Term Rental Registry, plus a $150 annual renewal fee to keep it there in following years. Under § 228-5.A there is no proration of these fees regardless of when in the calendar year an owner applies, so a unit registered in November still owes the full $300.

Subsection C reserves the City's separate authority to collect fines 'as detailed in the City Code or as decided by a court of competent jurisdiction,' which covers the per-day penalties spelled out in § 228-12: $300 per day for offering an ineligible unit, and $100 per day for operating unregistered or for failing to comply with a notice of violation. Registration itself is a one-year term running January 1 through December 31, or an alternate twelve-month period the Department of Inspections may set, per § 228-5.A, meaning the $150 renewal and the 1% occupancy tax recur annually as long as the unit keeps operating as a short-term rental.