Air BNB in Lowell MA

[Vy Mai]

Is it legal to host Airbnb in Lowell MA?  Do you need to obtain a permit to do so?

[Marcia Maynard]

We offer one our residential rental houses as a short-term rental on Airbnb. It's been working well for us. Before we began, we checked in with the Airbnb folks for guidance and we also looked for listings in our town and talked to hosts who had already figured it out. 

I would recommend you go to the Airbnb website and find properties similar to yours that are listed in Lowell, MA. If you are familiar with your town, you can figure out the locations of the listings and through public records contact the owners. Airbnb hosts are a good bunch and are quite likely to share their knowledge with you. They will know how to set it up and which laws might apply. 

For paying taxes, I contacted our State Department of Revenue and they were the ones that first clued me in that in our municipality Airbnb actually collects and remits the taxes due for this kind of business. It was easy for me. Some municipalities make it more difficult or even illegal to do short-term rentals. You could also contact your city hall and see what is required.

For licensing, it turned out the business license we already have for our residential rental property business was enough to cover this venture too.

Good luck!