Short-Term Rentals

What is a Short-Term Rental? 

The Town of Nags Head allows residential Short-Term Rentals (also known as STR’s and often referred to by the name of popular hosting companies, such as Airbnb or VRBO) within every zoning district. These Short-Term Rentals may be for a whole house or a partial house, defined as follow:

Short-term rental, whole house means the rental of an entire single-family dwelling to a group operating as one housekeeping unit for vacation, leisure, recreation, or other purposes for fewer than thirty (30) days. 

Short-term rental, partial house means a resident occupied single-family dwelling that consists of the rental of up to two guest rooms for vacation, leisure, recreation, or other purposes for fewer than thirty (30) days.  The partial house short-term rental should be subordinate and incidental to the principal residential use of the dwelling. 

Please note, partial house Short-Term Rentals are limited to a maximum of two bedrooms; the rental of more than two bedrooms may constitute a bed and breakfast, which may or may not be allowed based on the zoning of the property, and only then with the issuance of a conditional use permit. 

Do you have a partial house rental? Additional parking may be required. 

Whole house Short-Term Rentals are not required to provide any additional parking beyond what is required for a single-family dwelling. Partial house Short-Term Rentals are required to provide one additional parking space beyond the minimum requirement for a single-family dwelling. Most single-family dwellings are required to provide parking based on the number of bedrooms, minus 2, with a minimum of 2 parking spaces; for example, both 3bedroom and 4-bedroom homes would be required to provide 2 parking spaces, while a 5-bedroom home would be required to provide 3 parking spaces; if these homes were used as partial house Short-Term rentals, regardless of the number of bedrooms rented, one additional parking space would be required (3 parking spaces for the 3 and 4-bedroom homes, a 4 parking spaces for the 5-bedroom home).  

Do you have liability insurance coverage in effect to operate the residential property as a short-term rental? 

As part of the registration we ask that you disclose whether you do or do not have liability insurance coverage to operate the dwelling as a short-term rental. Coverage is not a requirement of registration; however, please consider that a standard homeowners’ policy likely does not include liability coverage for this additional use of the property. If you have not already done so, please check with your insurance company to make sure you have the right coverage. 

Vacation Rental Act Requirements 

Your Short-Term Rental is likely subject to the requirements of the North Carolina Vacation Rental Act. We ask you to acknowledge that you are aware of this law. You may find more information on how this law relates to you and your property, as well as those renting your property on the North Carolina Department of Justice's web site under Vacation Rentals. 

The Town is interested in making sure that properties operated as short-term rentals are maintained in a safe condition. The North Carolina Vacation Rental Act also includes minimum safety provisions that apply to these properties. These specific provisions can be found at the following link:  

https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByArticle/Chapter_42A/Article_5.pdf  

Taxes 

Operation of your Short-Term Rental is subject to taxes, including Occupancy and Sales taxes. Information on the Occupancy Tax, including how to report and pay the tax, is available from Dare County at the following link:  

https://www.darenc.com/departments/tax-department/occupancy-tax 

Information on State of North Carolina requirements to register, file, pay the Sales Tax is available at the following links: 

https://www.ncdor.gov/taxes-forms/sales-and-use-tax/sales-and-use-tax-registration  AND https://www.ncdor.gov/taxes-forms/sales-and-use-tax/filing-requirements