Our occupancy tax is 14.45%.
Yes, and it didn’t seem to affect the business. We kept getting more business, but we were new (about one year into it) when the transition occurred. You didn’t ask, but the tax seems only fair to me, as it puts short-term rentals in the same occupancy tax as hotels.
Me too. I’d encourage you to participate even if it’s a letter expressing your views (better a face-to-face, one-on-one meeting). Regulators need to understand the economic difference to a neighborhood of a Home-share Host and a remote Host with multiple properties.
They also need to understand what the real problems have been with short-term rentals and what regulations are appropriate for those concerns. From what I’ve read here are the main concerns and what I might do as a regulator.
Concern: Gentrification
Action: Exempt home-share Hosts as this activity has no bearing on gentrification. In fact, preventing Home-share hosts from hosting might lead to them selling their home and accelerating gentrification. Other actions might be appropriate, but not for home-share hosts; actions like limiting the number of days that the STR can be rented.
Concern: Parties
Initial Actions:
Noise: Require all listings to incorporate and state the local noise ordinance.
Noise: Require identifying information of booking guest, who will be subject to fine from the local municipality for all violations of law. [I don’t know how easy it is to enforce a fine on an out-of-state guest, but assume that if egregious violations were made criminal that enforcement would be easier.]
Parties: Specify how maximum occupancy is determined. Limit gatherings to a multiple of the maximum occupancy. Require that this information be in the listing.
Parking: Specify a summary of salient aspects of local parking laws to be in listing.
Concern: Unsafe Homes Listed as STRs
Action: Before a Home can be registered as a permitted STR a city code inspector must inspect the property inside and out to verify that it conforms to the building code. The STR Host must pay a fee to fully reimburse the municipality for this expense. Permit lasts five years.
Concern: Unregistered Short-term Rentals
Action: The municipality will proactively monitor STR listings and impose onerous penalties for failure to register. Municipality will work with Airbnb, VRBO and similar firms to get these firms to put a page on their site on the municipality’s laws and to proactively message all STRs in the municipality’s jurisdiction about the need to register (Airbnb does this now for several municipalities like NYC), and will share with the municipality on a periodic basis (quarterly) identifying information of all Hosts so that the municipality can easily verify registration.
This is not an exhaustive list.
My concern is that the legislators throw out the STR baby with the bath water.
The legislators really need informed input from seasoned Hosts like you to craft appropriate laws.
I think you could make a valuable contribution to your community by finding a way to participate.