🎯 STRisker: Bulletin - Yates County, NY
Yates County Hits Pause on Short-Term Rental Registry While Extending Mortgage Tax
Yates County Chooses Local Control Over State STR Registry
Yates County lawmakers voted earlier this month on two local laws that affected homeowners, lenders, and the future of short-term rental oversight across the county. The actions, finalized before mid-December, kept a long-running mortgage recording tax in place while deliberately opting out of a new state-driven short-term rental requirement.
For the short-term rental community, the most notable move was the county’s decision to opt out of New York State’s short-term rental registration mandate. State law now required counties to establish registration systems for short-term rental units, but it also allowed counties to decline. Yates County lawmakers chose that option.
By filing the local law with the Secretary of State on Nov. 14, the county officially confirmed it would not create a short-term rental registry. The law took effect immediately. It did not impose new requirements, fees, or compliance steps for property owners. Instead, it simply declined to set up and administer the state-authorized registry.
For short-term rental hosts, the decision meant there was no county-run registration process to navigate and no additional layer of oversight tied specifically to the state law. Existing zoning rules and rental regulations remained unchanged. County leaders appeared to favor local control and administrative simplicity rather than launching a new countywide system.
At the same time, lawmakers also adopted a separate local law renewing Yates County’s additional mortgage recording tax. The tax, first authorized locally in 2005, was extended for another two years.
Beginning Dec. 1, the county continued charging 25 cents for every $100 of mortgage debt, or major fraction of it. Mortgages under $100 were still subject to a flat 25-cent charge. The tax applied to mortgages recorded on or after Dec. 1 and was collected in the same manner as other state-authorized mortgage taxes.
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After administrative costs were covered, the revenue was deposited into the county’s general fund. The renewed tax was scheduled to expire on Dec. 1, 2027, unless lawmakers acted again.
Together, the two measures highlighted how county leaders balanced stable revenue needs with decisions about short-term rental oversight. While the mortgage tax extension maintained a familiar funding source, the opt-out decision signaled that Yates County was not rushing to expand short-term rental regulation beyond what was already in place.
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