# Local rules and lodging taxes: our method

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**For short-term rental investors checking whether a town allows rentals.** We record each town's short-term rental rules and lodging tax from the ordinance or tax page the town, county or state publishes, with a link and the date we last checked it. Where the published text does not settle a question, the answer is unknown, never a guess. This is a desk screen, not legal advice.

## What we record

Whether a permit is required, any numeric cap on permits and the section that sets it, whether new permits are suspended (a moratorium), zoning limits, permit fees, and how far state law overrides local rules. Each answer is yes, no or unknown.

## Lodging tax

We publish the state, county and city lodging rates separately, and a combined rate only when the jurisdiction states one itself. We do not add the parts up for you, because rates can apply to different bases. Notes say whether general sales tax also applies and who collects it.

## The verdict

Each town gets one of four labels: permissive, restricted, hostile or unknown. The label summarises the recorded answers; it adds no legal reading of its own. Check the linked source, and a local lawyer, before you buy.

## Freshness

The last-verified date is when we reviewed the source rule, never the date a page was built. Rules change; an old date means read the source again.

## Related

- [Permit required](/glossary/permit-required/)
- [Permit cap](/glossary/permit-cap/)
- [Moratorium](/glossary/moratorium/)
- [Lodging tax](/glossary/lodging-tax/)
- [State preemption](/glossary/state-preemption/)
- [Local rules verdict](/glossary/local-rules-verdict/)
- [All methodology](/methodology/)