"The concern being somebody can rent out their house for $15,000 per week," Spring Lake Council President Brendan Judge said at the borough's February 10, 2026 meeting. In his view, the old penalty of up to $2,000 gave an owner "little incentive to follow the law rather than their rental economics."
Four weeks later the council voted unanimously to change that. Taken together with an ordinance adopted the previous December, the result is a rental system that a buyer underwrites by the tenant. That is a big change for anyone hoping summer income will cover part of the cost of owning a Spring Lake house.
The rule counts tenants, not nights
Spring Lake has long required a rental certificate of occupancy, or RCO, before a tenant moves in. Until late 2025 the borough had no limit on how many of those certificates a house could collect in a year. Ordinance 2025-006, adopted December 2, 2025, set one. Under the borough code, a residential rental unit can receive no more than four rental certificates of occupancy per calendar year.
What gives the cap its bite is the trigger. According to the borough's rental rules and procedures sheet, an RCO is required "for each new Tenant," whether the rental is "a summer, winter or annual rental," and whether it was arranged through an agent or booked on VRBO or Airbnb. So four certificates means four tenants. Stays of six days or fewer are also listed as a prohibited activity in the ordinance.
Ordinance 2026-003, adopted March 10, 2026, added fees and enforcement. The application fee is now $150 for houses with up to four bedrooms and $200 for larger houses, with a $25 reinspection fee. Unauthorized occupancy now carries a fine of $2,000 per day, enforced by the Code Enforcement Officer or the Spring Lake Police Department. Judge's quote explains the change. A per-day fine is meant to cost more than a week of rent brings in.
What four certificates can actually fill
The council aimed this rule at one specific rental pattern. In August 2025, Mayor Jennifer Naughton said the borough had pulled every summer RCO and found that more than one-third of rentals were one-week stays. More than 100 homes were renting seasonally, and a handful turned over constantly. TAPinto's November 2025 coverage described the cap as built to "eliminate weekly or high-turnover rentals while still allowing traditional seasonal, monthly, or long-term leases."
Once the limit is on tenants, a buyer has to think about the calendar differently. Here is how four slots can be used:
| How the four RCOs are used | Rented time it can cover | Slots left over |
|---|---|---|
| Four one-week summer tenants | Four weeks | None |
| Three monthly tenants for June, July and August | The full summer | One |
| One full-season summer tenant | The full summer | Three |
| One summer-season tenant plus one winter tenant | Summer plus the off-season | Two |
| One lease longer than a year | The full lease term | Three |
That last row comes from the code itself. An RCO is valid for at least one year. If the lease runs longer than a year, the Code Enforcement Officer may issue the certificate for the whole term or until the tenant changes.
Now apply rents to the table. In December 2025, TAPinto reported that Spring Lake summer weekly rentals averaged $2,200 to $4,500, with larger homes renting for $7,000 to $12,000 per week. The outlet attributed those figures to Airbnb and VRBO, so they are reported estimates, not closed-lease data. At those rates, a larger home rented only by the week now tops out at four weeks, or roughly $28,000 to $48,000 gross for the year. A seller's rental history from before December 2025 may show far more weeks than a new owner can legally book.
The winter tenant uses a slot too
This detail tends to get lost in conversations about summer rentals. The borough's procedures sheet lists no off-season exception. A winter tenant needs an RCO like anyone else, so a winter lease uses one of the same four slots.
An owner who signs a fall-through-spring tenant has two slots left for the summer, or three if no other tenant has used one that calendar year. Leases that run past January raise a timing question, because the cap is counted by calendar year while many winter leases cross into a new one. The code does not explain how a lease that runs across January 1 is counted. That is worth confirming with Spring Lake Code Enforcement before the winter lease and the summer bookings are both signed.
The paperwork has deadlines too. The application has to be filed within 10 days after the lease is signed, and the borough inspects within 10 days of filing. The application must include proof that property taxes, municipal water and sewer charges, and other municipal charges are current. Owners also need at least $500,000 in liability coverage, or $300,000 for owner-occupied two- to four-family homes, and the certificate of insurance has to be registered every year.
Spring Lake Heights wrote a looser rule
The cap matters even more because the next town over set a different number. Spring Lake Heights adopted Ordinance 2025-17, its short-term rental ordinance, in late 2025. TAPinto reported that it allows eight rental groups per calendar year with a seven-day minimum stay. It also requires a primary occupant who is at least 21 and stays on-site for the rental, and it adds a 3% municipal transient accommodations tax paid by renters. In 2026 the Heights replaced the tax section with a state-model version that keeps the 3% rate, adopted as Ordinance 2026-08.
The two towns also rent at different price levels. The same December TAPinto report put Spring Lake Heights weekly rates at $1,400 to $1,800, and $3,000 to $4,000 for larger homes. At public meetings, a Prospect Avenue resident told the Heights council that its draft "would allow twice the number of COs as Spring Lake" and warned that the town could become "the overflow."
For a buyer comparing the two towns, the difference goes beyond rules. It reflects two different kinds of rental property. A Spring Lake house fits an owner who wants a few long stays. The Heights rule leaves room for more turnover at lower weekly rates, with a 3% tax on top for the renter.
What the rental was supposed to help pay
Carrying costs explain why the tenant cap matters so much. Spring Lake's 2026 budget lists an average residential assessment of $3,693,702.76, up from $3,417,829.27 in 2025. Those are assessed values, not sale prices, but they show the scale of a typical holding.
In the borough's 2026 user-friendly budget, the municipal-purpose tax rate fell from 0.112 to 0.109, a 2.68% drop. The municipal tax on the average home still rose 5.18%, from $3,827.97 to $4,026.14, because assessments climbed faster than the rate came down. For 2025, the full bill from every taxing entity came to $15,619.48 on the average residential property, at a combined rate of 0.457.
Spring Lake's tax rate is low, but the dollar amounts are not small, and they are rising even in a year when one rate went down. Under the old system, a few extra summer weeks could absorb that increase. Now a fifth tenant isn't allowed, so what each of the four tenants pays carries more of the weight.
Questions to settle before the offer
- What does the seller's RCO history show? Each certificate is filed with the borough, so the record shows how the house was actually rented and whether that pattern can continue under a four-tenant cap.
- Are any 2026 slots already used? A buyer closing mid-year takes over a calendar that has already started. Whether an earlier owner's certificates count against the new owner's cap is a question for Code Enforcement.
- Do existing future bookings fit the rule? A summer 2027 calendar built on weekly reservations would need to be restructured.
- How will a winter lease and summer bookings share slots? Settle this before either one is signed, including how a lease that runs across January 1 is counted.
- Is the insurance in place? The liability minimum, $500,000 for most rental units, and the annual certificate registration apply from the first rental.
A short FAQ
Is Airbnb or VRBO allowed in Spring Lake? Platform bookings are allowed if each tenant has an RCO, every stay is at least seven days, and the house stays within four certificates per calendar year. The borough's guidance says the RCO requirement applies whether an owner uses an agent or rents directly through a platform.
Has anything changed since March 2026? The borough's procedures sheet, dated March 30, 2026, still reflects the four-certificate cap and the $2,000 daily fine. No later amendment turned up in the borough's posted ordinances, and no enforcement totals from the first summer under the cap have been published.
Can a pool be rented separately? No. The updated rules bar renting pools or outdoor amenities separately, along with lawn parking and front-porch barbecues.
If summer income is part of your plan for a Spring Lake home, Michele Taylor can help you work out how four tenants could realistically fill the calendar and which homes are set up to attract longer stays. Contact Us to go through the rental math on any house you're considering.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
