Cape Cod Town Sets $300 Annual Fee for Short-Term Rentals

Brewster, Massachusetts will start charging short-term rental owners $300 a year to register their properties beginning in January. The Cape Cod town estimates about 1,300 short-term rentals operate within its limits, meaning the new fee could generate close to $390,000 annually for the town if compliance is near-universal.

What the fee actually requires

Owners will need to register each unit with the town annually and pay the $300 charge per property, not per owner. A host running three separate listings across three addresses will owe $900 a year in local registration fees alone, on top of whatever the town's existing lodging and room occupancy taxes already cost. Brewster has not published enforcement penalties for unregistered units as part of this announcement, but towns that adopt registration schemes elsewhere in Massachusetts typically pair them with fines for hosts who list without registering.

How this sits alongside state rules

Massachusetts already requires short-term rental operators to register with the state and collect the state's room occupancy excise tax, a requirement that has been in place since the state's 2019 short-term rental law took effect. Brewster's $300 fee is a separate, local layer on top of that state registration, not a replacement for it. Hosts on Cape Cod who already file with the state will now need to complete a second registration and pay a second fee to keep operating legally within town limits.

Why Brewster is moving now

Cape Cod towns have watched short-term rental volume grow steadily as second-home owners and investors convert seasonal properties into full-time rental businesses, straining local services during peak summer months while contributing comparatively little in direct municipal revenue. A flat annual registration fee gives Brewster a predictable funding line tied directly to the properties driving that seasonal load, rather than relying solely on existing tax collections that may lag actual rental activity.

For operators with listings in Brewster, the practical task before January is straightforward: confirm current state registration status, budget for the new $300-per-property charge, and watch for the town's specific registration portal and any compliance deadlines that follow the fee's introduction. Property managers running multiple Cape Cod units should factor the per-listing cost into 2026 operating budgets now, since it applies per address rather than per business.