Bethel, Maine

Bethel has no local short-term rental ordinance in force as of May 2026. A proposed local STR ordinance was reviewed by the Ordinance Review Committee in 2023 and voted down by the Bethel Select Board in May 2023 by a 4-to-1 margin. The town has continued drafting an updated version focused on registration, off-street parking, and guest caps tied to bedroom count and septic design, but no version has been adopted. The operative compliance layer is the Maine state vacation rental registration administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. Registration is required annually with a fee capped at $50. Maine’s statewide lodging tax rate is 9%, applied to all short-term stays. Airbnb collects and remits the state tax automatically for platform bookings. Operators taking direct bookings must register with Maine Revenue Services independently. There is no Bethel-imposed cap on rental nights per year, no owner-occupancy requirement, and no primary-residence requirement. Enforcement today is complaint-driven and focused on building code, septic capacity, and fire safety compliance rather than STR-specific operations. STRs are permitted across Bethel’s residential, mixed-use, commercial, and rural residential zoning categories, though condo and HOA rules at the development level may impose additional restrictions. Operators considering multi-unit or multi-property acquisitions should anticipate that a local registration regime may be adopted within the planning horizon of a typical investment hold. Neighboring Woodstock began considering its own STR ordinance in late 2024, signaling continued regional legislative pressure.