North Bergen ended a two-and-a-half-year ban on short-term rentals this spring, and the news traveled fast among people shopping for two- and three-family properties in the township. The math seemed obvious: buy a duplex near Bergenline Avenue or the light rail, rent both units nightly instead of by the month, and let visitor demand for a fifteen-minute bus ride into Midtown carry the mortgage. That math doesn't work under the ordinance the township actually passed. The rule that brought short-term rentals back also wrote in the exact restriction that rules out running an investment property that way, and it's a detail worth understanding before you write an offer, not after closing.
The Plan That Doesn't Survive Contact With the Ordinance
The assumption behind a lot of multi-family shopping trips in North Bergen goes something like this: buy a two-family, don't live in either unit, list both on a booking platform, and collect nightly rates instead of one long-term check. It's a reasonable instinct in a market with strong transit access and steady demand from New York-adjacent visitors. It's also not what North Bergen's ordinance allows.
The Township of North Bergen's Board of Commissioners adopted Ordinance 706-26 on March 18, 2026, taking effect about three weeks later, and it replaced the prior framework from 2017 and 2023 with a permit system built entirely around owner occupancy. A short-term rental permit only goes to someone who owns the home and lives in it as a principal residence, a threshold the township measures at a minimum of 275 days in the calendar year. Eligible properties include certain single-family homes, owner-occupied units in two- to four-family dwellings, and condo units where the association allows it. Tenants cannot apply for a permit under any circumstance. An investor who buys a two-family and doesn't live in either unit has no legal path to a short-term rental permit on that property, full stop.
What Ordinance 706-26 Actually Permits
The rules are specific enough that they're worth laying out plainly, because the difference between what a buyer assumes and what the ordinance says is where the deal math changes.
| Rule | What It Means for a Buyer |
|---|---|
| Owner-occupancy requirement | You must live in the unit as your principal residence at least 275 days a year to hold a permit |
| Eligible unit types | Single-family homes, owner-occupied units in two- to four-family buildings, and qualifying condos |
| Night cap | 60 nights per calendar year, per permit |
| Permit cost | $500 annually, non-refundable if the application is denied |
| Permit limit | No more than two permits per person or entity |
| Tenant eligibility | Tenants cannot hold a permit, regardless of lease terms |
| Renewal timing | Due 30 days before the current permit expires |
The permit system replaced a flat prohibition that had been in place since 2023, so the return of short-term rentals in North Bergen is real. It's just narrower than the pre-2023 landscape, and narrower than what a buyer coming from a market without these restrictions might expect. A two-family bought purely as an investment, with no owner living on site, simply doesn't qualify for a permit under this ordinance, regardless of how the units are configured or how strong the rental demand looks on paper.
One Unit Gets a Permit. The Other Doesn't Get a Choice.
For a buyer who does plan to occupy one unit of a two- or three-family, the math still isn't a simple doubling of income potential. Only the unit where the owner actually lives can carry a short-term rental permit, and even that unit is capped at 60 nights a year. The remaining unit or units, occupied by a tenant, have no short-term rental option under this ordinance at all. That unit is a long-term rental, priced and modeled the way any long-term rental in the township would be, not as a second nightly-rate revenue stream.
That distinction matters for how a two-family purchase gets underwritten. The owner-occupied side might generate some supplemental income across 60 nights a year, minus the $500 annual permit and the tax obligations that come with taxable stays. If a booking runs through a marketplace platform, that platform typically collects and remits the applicable state and local occupancy taxes on the host's behalf. A host who books directly, without going through a marketplace, is responsible for registering with the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services on Form NJ-REG at least 15 business days before renting, and for collecting and remitting those taxes personally. The municipal occupancy tax itself increased on September 1, 2026, which means any yield projection built before that date needs a second look for bookings taken since.
The Rent-Controlled Unit Is Its Own Underwriting Problem
The tenant-occupied unit in a North Bergen two- or three-family sits under a separate framework entirely: the township's rent control ordinance, administered by its own Rent Control Board. Annual increases on covered units are tied to the regional Consumer Price Index, which produced a cap of 4.6 percent for the period running April 2025 through April 2026. That figure resets each year with the CPI, so it isn't something to lock into a five-year pro forma without checking the current number.
What's less settled, at least from publicly available guidance, is exactly which North Bergen buildings the ordinance covers by unit count. Some interpretive guides describe broad coverage for buildings with one or more units, while the same guides note that smaller and owner-occupied properties are frequently exempt in practice. The township itself doesn't resolve that ambiguity on a general information page. It resolves it building by building. The Rent Control office maintains individual property files open for public inspection precisely because coverage, base rent, and permitted increases are determined case by case rather than by a blanket rule you can look up online. Before finalizing income projections on the tenant unit of any North Bergen multi-family purchase, pulling that property's specific file from the township is the only way to know what you're actually buying into.
What the Current Listings Actually Look Like
As of an April 2026 snapshot, 28 multi-family properties were listed for sale in North Bergen, priced between $450,000 and $2.1 million, with the median sitting near $537,500 and typical time on market around 54 days. That range covers everything from older two-families needing renovation to newer construction, including a three-family from builder Silverline slated for delivery in fall 2026 and marketed specifically to buyers who want lower near-term maintenance alongside rental income.
For the long-term unit's rent line, HUD's fiscal year 2026 Fair Market Rent figures for Hudson County put a one-bedroom at roughly $2,458 a month and a two-bedroom at about $2,763, useful as a conservative floor rather than a ceiling. Locally, renovated one-bedroom units in North Bergen commonly ask somewhere in the $2,300 to $2,800 range depending on finishes and proximity to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and better-finished units can list above that. Cap rates on small 2-4 unit buildings across the broader area often land in the mid-5 to low-6 percent range, with smaller properties sometimes trading a bit higher depending on condition and location. None of those figures assume any nightly income at all. The short-term rental side of a North Bergen multi-family purchase is a bonus on top of a conventional long-term rental model, not a replacement for one.
Before You Write the Offer
A few things worth confirming before a two- or three-family purchase in North Bergen goes under contract:
- Decide which unit you'll actually occupy, and confirm you can realistically clear the 275-day residency threshold before assuming a short-term rental permit is part of the plan
- Pull the rent control file on any tenant-occupied unit directly from the township's Rent Control office rather than relying on a general online summary
- Budget the $500 annual short-term rental permit and calendar the renewal window, which falls 30 days before the current permit expires
- If you intend to book directly rather than through a marketplace platform, register with the NJ Division of Revenue at least 15 business days before your first rental
- Model income as one unit capped at 60 nights of short-term stays plus one long-term, rent-controlled unit, not as two units of nightly income
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I buy a three-family in North Bergen and short-term rent more than one unit? Only the unit you occupy as your principal residence, for at least 275 days a year, is eligible for a permit. The other units in the building can be long-term rentals, but they can't carry a short-term rental permit regardless of who lives there.
Does the 60-night cap apply to the property or to the owner? It applies per permit, and no person or entity may hold more than two permits. For a typical owner-occupied two-family, that generally means 60 nights on the one unit that qualifies.
What if I buy the property but a family member, not me, will live there? The ordinance ties eligibility to the owner residing at the location as a principal residence. A property purchased for a relative to occupy raises questions worth confirming directly with the township before assuming a permit will be available.
Numbers like these are exactly why a North Bergen multi-family purchase deserves a second set of eyes before an offer goes in, not after. If you're weighing a two- or three-family here and want the actual math run against a specific address, Scott Selleck can walk through what the ordinance, the rent control file, and the current listing actually add up to.
