What are the rules for short-term rentals in the Centre Region? Here’s a look

With Airbnb, Vrbo and other vacation rental businesses growing in popularity, the rules for short-term rentals on football weekends — or year-round — vary across Centre County, depending on where you live.

Ferguson Township led the way with the region’s first STR ordinance in 2019. Now, College, Ferguson and Patton townships, along with both Bellefonte and State College boroughs, have STR regulations in place, with Harris Township currently working on an ordinance. Halfmoon Township is the lone Centre Region municipality without one on the books or one known to be in the works.

Here’s a look at what you need to know by municipality, as well as what it takes to apply for one in your respective area. We’ve included all those in the Centre Region, along with Bellefonte.

Ferguson Township

Ferguson Township’s STR ordinance requires any rental to be the property owner’s or leasee’s permanent address, and they must also occupy the rental for at least six months of the calendar year. A driver’s license, voter registration or other documentation is required to verify residency.

One off-street parking space per bedroom available for rental is also required, and all activity at the rental is subject to enforcement of the township’s noise-, nuisance- and property maintenance-related ordinances.

A $25 application must be filed to the township’s zoning department that includes the applicant’s tax ID number, how many months they’ll be living there, when the rental will start, the residence’s total square footage, how many square feet will be devoted to the STR, the number of bedrooms rented and the number of off-street parking spaces.

An approved rental housing permit from the Centre Region Code Administration is required, and each year the applicant must reapply for the township’s permit. Both permits should be displayed clearly at the property.

College Township

In 2020, College Township followed Ferguson Township’s lead by enacting an STR ordinance of its own, which also requires all rentals to be owner-occupied. Rentals must operate in increments of up to 14 consecutive nights, and no more than 45 cumulative nights per calendar year.

Additionally, guest vehicles must be fully parked on the rental property, and the rental’s maximum allowable occupancy, all rules, nuisance ordinances and parking restrictions, contacts for local emergency services, and the responsible party for any wrongdoing must be posted in a “conspicuous place.”

Property owners looking to have an STR in the township are required to maintain general liability insurance of at least $100,000. They then must fill out and submit a $35 residential rental permit to the township’s zoning office to be approved, which can be found on the township’s website in a comprehensive rental housing application packet.

Once approved, a CRCA rental housing permit must also be obtained. Both approved applications are required to be displayed clearly at the property.

Annual renewal of a residential rental permit is required, and the property owner must pay a $130 fee and provide proof of insurance and registration for hotel tax, their name and phone number and a record of all dates the STR was used in the previous year.

STR owners must also keep a detailed schedule that provides all rental periods. The schedule must be made available for inspection upon request, and STR owners must participate in random audits requested by College Township.

Violation of the township’s STR regulations could result in warnings, fines and permit suspensions.

Patton Township

Patton Township enacted its STR ordinance in May, although it’s not as detailed as some of the others yet.

Previously, STR owners in the township would have to apply for a CRCA rental housing permit for seven-night stays or longer. That number has now been dropped to one, effectively making all STR owners in the township apply for a permit.

A point system is in place to handle complaints from residents about rental properties. Points can be assigned for ordinance violations, noise and other issues, and once a property reaches 10 points, the rental permit can be revoked for up to a year.

While those are currently Patton Township’s only STR regulations, township staff is compiling a rental housing review to be presented in June, which will include how many STRs are in the township, along with the issues or challenges experienced since the regulations took effect.

The township’s board of supervisors will then decide if any additional regulations are needed.

Harris Township

Harris Township also doesn’t have an official STR ordinance, or any regulations for that matter, but township officials are in the midst of implementing some — a process that has been met with some pushback from residents.

The township’s supervisors began discussing an STR ordinance in April, including a potential requirement that STRs may be operated in increments of 29 consecutive nights or less, and no more than 120 cumulative nights per year.

Other possible regulations could include a $500,000 general liability insurance requirement, the property being owner-occupied for at least eight months of the year, a requirement that cars park entirely on the STR property and others.

At the supervisors’ meeting in August, a group of STR property owners threatened legal action against the township if an STR ordinance was passed with requirements such the limit on the length of time a home can be rented.

Supervisor Bruce Lord said at September’s meeting that the township is looking to bring in “outside counsel” to help with the creation of the ordinance.

Bellefonte Borough

Adopted in 2022, Bellefonte Borough’s STR ordinance is similar to others across the Centre Region.

STRs that existed in the borough’s R1 and R2 residential zoning districts before 2022 can be rented for a maximum of 60 nights per year, with no new STRs allowed in those zoning districts. There is no cap on the number of nights rented for both pre-existing and new STRs in the borough’s other zoning districts.

Each short-term rental is allowed a maximum of two on-street parking spaces — all other parking needs to be off-street, and the number of parking spaces can’t exceed the number of bedrooms on the property. STRs in Bellefonte can be both owner and non-owner-occupied.

Signage for short-term rentals is optional, but needs to be consistent with the borough’s sign ordinance if used. The ordinance outlines several penalties for violations, which include warnings, fines and suspension.

All new STR owners must apply for a $50 short-term rental permit, and that permit must be renewed each year for $130. The application requires several items, including the name, address and contact information of the property owner and the person in charge of the property, address of the STR, square footage of the property owner’s dwelling and the portion of it that will be used for the STR, number of bedrooms to be rented, registration and payment of hotel tax, certification of parking and proof of insurance.

Additionally, property owners will have to keep a schedule or calendar that shows all rental periods. When the permit is renewed, a record of when it was rented out during the previous year will be required, the ordinance states.

State College Borough

The State College Borough Council passed its STR ordinance in 2022, and it includes an overnight stay limit of 120 nights per year.

The ordinance also mandates that one off-street parking space be located on the property per each bedroom rented, that each property be limited to nine rooms available for rent and that the STRs be owner-occupied for at least eight months each year.

Those looking to apply for an STR must attain a CRCA rental housing permit and a separate housing license from the borough, which costs $450 can be found on the borough’s website. Proof of residency is required to apply.

Also required with the application is proof of $100,000 in liability insurance, a parking plan, the CRCA permit, the name, address, telephone number and email address of the STR owner, the owner’s tax identification number, a list of months and dates that the owner will be living in the property and more. A full list of requirements can be found in the borough’s book of codes.

The license must be renewed each year, and an activity log of all of the past year’s stays must be included with the renewal application.

Operating an STR without a license, nuisance complaints and violations of the borough’s STR regulations could result in warnings, fines between $300 and $1,000 and STR license suspensions.