Short-Term Rentals in Woodstock and Ludlow, Vermont

Woodstock: a 110-unit cap, adopted jointly, then split by a town-vs-village vote

On May 2, 2024, the Woodstock Selectboard and the Village Board of Trustees both approved an identical short-term-rental ordinance, unifying and tightening rules the town and village had first put in place separately back in 2021. The ordinance set a hard cap of 110 total short-term-rental units town-wide -- split evenly, 55 owner-occupied and 55 non-owner-occupied, described at adoption as roughly 5% of the town's housing stock -- and limited each individual owner to one short-term rental. Permit fees were tiered by occupancy type and size: a base fee of $500 for an owner-occupied unit or $1,000 for a non-owner-occupied unit, plus additional per-bedroom fees ranging from $250 to $2,000. Operating without a permit carried first-offense fines of $500 to $800.

That joint adoption didn't hold. On July 30, 2024, Woodstock's town and village electorates voted on the ordinance separately, at a joint special meeting called after a citizen-driven repeal effort -- and the results split: Village voters upheld the ordinance, while Town voters repealed it. After consulting legal counsel, Woodstock's officials concluded the ordinance would be enforced going forward only inside Woodstock Village -- the denser, more built-up center of town, which the Village Board of Trustees separately governs -- while short-term rentals in the surrounding Town of Woodstock reverted to being unregulated at the local level, subject only to Vermont's statewide rules described below. Village trustees have since worked to edit the ordinance's text to remove provisions written for town-wide application that no longer fit a village-only rule.

What the Village-only cap looks like heading into its third year

As of an August 2026 update, Woodstock Village was reported to be just shy of its operating cap -- described in that reporting as roughly 100 units -- with about 95 active short-term-rental listings between the town and village combined and a reported median monthly revenue per listing of around $3,000. (Note the apparent gap between the ordinance's originally adopted 110-unit, town-wide cap and this more recent ~100-unit figure specific to the Village: this likely reflects the cap being recalculated for the Village's smaller housing stock alone after the 2024 split, but the exact current number should be confirmed directly with the town rather than assumed from either figure here.) The town has also adopted new short-term-rental tracking software specifically to identify active listings that haven't registered, with a practice of outreach (email, phone, and public notice) to unregistered owners before pursuing enforcement.

For a buyer, the practical takeaway is that Woodstock Village-located short-term rentals operate under a real, enforced cap that is close to full -- meaning an unlicensed property may face a genuine wait or denial for a new permit -- while an otherwise-similar property just outside the Village line, in the Town of Woodstock proper, currently faces no town-level cap or permit requirement at all following the 2024 repeal. Confirm which side of the Town/Village line a specific parcel sits on before assuming either situation applies.

Ludlow: three failed attempts, and still no adopted town rule

Ludlow, built around Okemo Mountain Resort and reporting roughly one in five homes in town as short-term-rental-available, has pursued a local short-term-rental registry since at least 2019, with renewed urgency after a 2024 condominium fire drew attention to rental building-safety oversight. Three separate attempts to formally adopt a registry have each fallen short: a joint Selectboard/Village Trustees vote split 2-2 in January 2024; the Planning Commission recommended occupancy-limit changes (moving to an NFPA 101 Life Safety Code "bed spaces" standard rather than a simple bedroom count) in June 2025; and a further public hearing on a revised draft ordinance was held in August 2025. As of an August 2026 update, the Ludlow Selectboard was still preparing to send its latest draft to a further joint public hearing, with board members explicitly describing fees, inspection schedules, insurance requirements, and parking standards as still unresolved -- a genuine work in progress rather than a settled or imminently adopted rule.

That means, as of this writing, Ludlow has no town-level short-term-rental registry, permit, or cap of any kind -- a materially different regulatory position from Woodstock Village a few towns over. Don't assume this will remain the case indefinitely: the Selectboard has kept the issue actively moving for multiple years running, and a new draft could be adopted with little advance notice to a buyer relying on today's unregulated status. Ask the Town Manager's office directly for the current draft's status before assuming Ludlow will stay rule-free.

Statewide obligations that apply regardless of town or village rules

Whether a property sits in Woodstock Village, the Town of Woodstock, or Ludlow, Vermont's own statewide framework applies on top of (or, in the Town of Woodstock and Ludlow's case, in place of) any local rule. Operators must register under Act 48 (2024) and collect the state's 9% Rooms Tax, plus the Act 183 (2024) 3% short-term-rental surcharge on rents collected since August 1, 2024. Vermont's occupancy-based fire-safety framework also applies statewide: a self-certification worksheet for smaller-capacity units, and a Division of Fire Safety inspection and occupancy certificate for units sleeping nine or more guests.

What to verify before buying in Woodstock or Ludlow for short-term-rental income

1. Whether the specific parcel sits inside Woodstock Village (where the 2024 ordinance and its unit cap are enforced) or in the surrounding Town of Woodstock (where the ordinance was repealed and no town-level cap currently applies) -- these are two different jurisdictions with two different rules despite sharing the same ZIP code and school district.
2. In Woodstock Village, ask the town directly for the current count of active licenses against the operating cap before assuming a new permit is available.
3. In Ludlow, confirm the current status of the draft short-term-rental ordinance with the Town Manager's office -- as of mid-2026 it remains unadopted, but the Selectboard has kept revising it, and occupancy standards under consideration would move to an NFPA 101 "bed spaces" calculation rather than a simple bedroom count.
4. Regardless of town or village, confirm the property's occupancy-based state fire-safety obligation and that Act 48/Act 183 state tax registration is current or achievable before relying on projected rental income.