Short-Term Rentals in Stowe, Vermont

From a $100 registry to a capped, licensed system in about 18 months

Stowe's short-term-rental rules moved in two distinct stages. The Selectboard first passed a Short-Term Rental Registry Ordinance in February 2024, which voters approved at Town Meeting that May; it took effect May 1, 2025 and required every short-term rental -- defined as a dwelling rented to the public for fewer than 30 consecutive days and more than 14 nights per calendar year -- to register annually with the town for a $100 fee, designate an agent able to respond in person within 45 minutes of a complaint, and provide the fire department 24/7 lockbox access to the property. The town hired a third-party compliance vendor to identify unregistered listings and enforce the rule.

That registry turned out to be a data-gathering step toward something bigger. On July 22, 2026, the Selectboard voted 5-0 to adopt a rewritten ordinance that converts the registry into a formal STR License, running May 1 through April 30 each year, and caps the total number of licenses allowed to operate in Stowe at 850 town-wide. The cap takes effect September 15, 2026. Town data cited in coverage of the vote put the number of existing registered short-term rentals at roughly 1,450, but with an estimated 600 of those either commercial in nature or currently inactive -- the 850 figure represents the remainder, treated by the Selectboard as the number of genuinely active, non-commercial short-term rentals the town wants to formally cap going forward.

The 850 cap, the lottery, and what happens when a licensed property sells

Once the license count is at or above 850 in a given year, no new licenses are issued and the town doesn't accept lottery applications that year. When room does exist under the cap, an owner without a valid license can submit an STR Lottery Form with the required fee between June 1 and June 30; a random-number-generator drawing is held around July 15 and live-streamed, with one alternate also selected and the result not subject to challenge. As a floor against the cap freezing out new entrants entirely, the ordinance guarantees at least 20 new licenses will be made available by lottery in each of the 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 license years even if the 850 cap would otherwise leave room for none.

The detail most relevant to a buyer: existing, compliant STR licenses can keep operating and keep renewing, but an STR License is non-transferable in an ordinary, arms-length sale of the property. In practice, that means a house currently generating short-term-rental income under a valid Stowe license does not hand that license to its next owner automatically -- the buyer would need to either qualify to have the license reissued under the town's specific rules for that situation (confirm current mechanics directly with the Town Manager's office, since this is the newest and least-tested part of the ordinance) or enter the annual lottery like any other new applicant, with no guarantee of a license given the 850 cap. Underwriting a purchase price on the assumption that STR income simply continues under the same license is not a safe assumption here.

Resort PUDs are treated differently -- and exempt from all of this

Not every unit in Stowe is subject to the cap or the lottery. Properties inside the town's Spruce Peak, Topnotch Resort, and Trapp Family Lodge Ski-PUD and Resort-PUD zoning districts are classified as commercial lodging establishments and are fully exempt from the short-term-rental ordinance, on the reasoning that these developments were designed and permitted from the outset for transient lodging -- functioning essentially as hotels built as individually owned units -- rather than for year-round residency. Timeshare properties already in place at the time the ordinance was adopted are separately exempt. If a specific unit you're considering sits within one of these resort PUDs, the license cap and lottery process described above simply don't apply to it, which is a meaningfully different regulatory position from an ordinary single-family house or condo elsewhere in town.

What to verify before buying a Stowe property for short-term-rental income

1. Whether the specific property already holds a valid, current STR License, and, if so, whether the town's current rules allow that license to be reissued to a new owner on sale -- confirm this directly with the Town Manager's office rather than relying on a listing agent's characterization.
2. Whether the property sits inside the Spruce Peak, Topnotch, or Trapp Family Lodge Ski-PUD/Resort-PUD district, which is fully exempt from the license cap and lottery.
3. If no valid license exists or transfers, whether entering the annual lottery (application window June 1-30, drawing around July 15) is realistic given the 850 town-wide cap and current utilization -- ask the town for the current count of active licenses relative to the cap.
4. Whether state-level short-term-rental obligations apply on top of the town ordinance -- Vermont's statewide registration and rooms-tax rules (Act 48 and Act 183 of 2024) and the state Department of Health/Division of Fire Safety's occupancy self-certification (or, for 9+ occupants, a state fire-safety inspection) apply regardless of Stowe's own license status.
5. The current fee schedule and any ordinance amendments -- the Stowe Selectboard has continued to revisit STR rules in packets as recent as December 2025 and May 2026, so confirm you're working from the current adopted text rather than an earlier draft.