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Yes, STR only applies to rentals of less than 30 days here. Technically, I can continue to list on Air/vrbo with a 30-day minimum, and may continue to do so as my reviews/reputation there are worth something. As my city has contracted with Host Compliance to monitor compliance and the daily fine is $100, it’s not worth it to me to take a chance on listing on those websites for shorter stays without the required permits.
Initially, I was devastated (understatement!), but upon reflection, I came to realize how much stress it has been for me to do STR. I will be so glad that I won’t have to rely on Air’s reviews (always wondering if the guest “gets” the star rating system, are they acting entitled or taking out some minor frustration on me, etc.). The great benefit to mutual reviews on FF is that traveling professionals need to “prove” themselves to potential landlords as much - sometimes more - as I need to prove myself to them.
Oh, CeeBee, I am sorry to hear this! I’m glad you have such a good attitude about it - keep us updated on how well you do now that you are free from the chains of Airbnb’s reviews.
We let a room in our home and the guest has their own private bathroom adjacent to their room. We were in the kitchen and kept hearing loud banging, assuming our neighbour was doing some work.
It carried on & then we realised it was coming from the guest bathroom.
The lock had broken on the inside and there was no way we could open the door from the outside.
Our poor guest had forgotten to take towels in with him so only had a small hand towel in there.
The only means of escape was for him to climb up on the bath and climb out of the window (thank goodness it was ground floor)
The poor man streaked past my kitchen window while I did my best to keep looking down, streaked through our kitchen where our grandchildren were having breakfast, but he was laughing as he did do.
He had stayed with us before and as mortified as I was, he saw the funny side of it and pre-booked the following month!
Hi everyone - long time no see. Just stopping by to provide a brief update on my situation here in Maine.
As you may recall, I failed to renew my STR permit in December, and have gone back to being a landlord. While it was devastating at the time, it turned out to be a really good thing when Covid-19 happened and reservations were canceled en masse. Short term rentals were banned entirely for nearly a month, and when they were allowed to resume, guests were required to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days. I was fortunate to sign a lovely month-to-month tenant who has been renting the furnished unit for almost seven months now, and will likely be here through October.
Yesterday, however, I received a “notice of violation and order to correct” letter from the city. The letter states, “it appears your property is being used as a short-term rental and is not registered with the City…you must immediately stop using your property as a short-term rental, must cancel all future bookings, and must remove any short-term rental listings” within 14 days. Included was date/timestamped screenshot of my listing, presumably taken using the Host Compliance software they have been using since last year, and threatens me with unspecified penalties (“in the minimum amount of $100 per day”).
I have no intention of taking down my listing, of course, as I am not advertising short term stays. Heck, prospective ABB guests can’t even access the listing (since the calendar is blocked, it doesn’t show up when specific dates are searched). And my calendar has been blocked and Instant Book turned off since early January, when I lost my permit. (I had a brief panic attack when I received notification of an IB reservation following a glitchy software update several months ago, lol.) It’s clear that the notice was auto-generated by HC and not reviewed by anyone in the Housing Safety office, as the first sentence in my listing states: “NOTE: I am only accepting rentals of 30+ days at this time.”
I emailed the city and let them know that I am not in violation of the STR ordinance, but they’re still hung up on the fact that the listing shows a nightly rate (so…?) and used to have a minimum 1-2 night stay (which proves…what, exactly?). I have asked them to provide me with specific instances of violations if they are aware of any, otherwise I consider the matter closed. I can’t imagine they will pursue this any further, but I kind of wish they would - it will be amusing as all get out to see them try to prove their case based on Host Compliance alone.
They have way too much time on their hands if they are scouring the 'net looking for stuff like this with your tax dollars.
Time for a petition to overturn that law and vote out the current board. It’s ridiculous. It is your property. You pay the mortgage and taxes not them.
They aren’t spending any time on it and the software probably pays for itself inn short order. However, when people have to challenge warnings given in error, now it takes time.
