The Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to pass changes to its short-term rental ordinance to comply with a Nevada law that recently legalized the practice.
Renting homes on platforms, such as Airbnb and Vrbo, has been regulated by the city for more than a decade, so the amendments are “essentially a cleanup,” development director Seth Floyd previously told council. city community.
Changes include establishing a 2,500ft buffer zone for businesses with unrestricted gaming licenses, banning rentals in apartment buildings, setting minimum nights and limiting the number of guests. guests allowed to stay in a rental.
Rental platforms, defined as “accommodation facilitators” in the new ordinance, will now have to obtain business licenses and remit the resort taxes they collect to the city, and they must share customer data for purposes tax and enforcement.
Civil penalties for those who violate the regulations have increased from a maximum of $500 to a range between $1,000 and $10,000, depending on the violation.
The changes will go into effect as early as next week, after Mayor Carolyn Goodman signs the ordinance, a city spokesperson said.
Nevada lawmakers in 2021 passed Assembly Bill 363, which Governor Steve Sisolak signed into law in June. Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson already regulated them.
A Clark County ban was overturned when the law went into effect July 1. The county license application opens next month, even as the county and state face a lawsuit from the Greater Las Vegas Short Term Rental Association, which alleges the county rules. went further than required by state law.
Unlike Clark County, which recently established its regulations and used a lottery system to screen potential applicants, Las Vegas will not limit the number of licenses it issues.
Rules already in place, including a 660-foot separation from other short-term rentals and a requirement that homes have no more than three bedrooms, limit the number of viable applicants, Floyd said, explaining that only 18 business license applications were submitted in 2021, and the city is processing an average of one to three new applications per month.
“I don’t foresee a huge rush for new ones, because there are so many rules that apply to them, that there aren’t many places left where you can get one,” Floyd said during a recommending committee meeting last month.
Las Vegas currently allows just under 200 short-term rental properties, and 138 of those were issued before its rules were last updated in 2018, Floyd said.
Homeowners who have already obtained a permit are exempt from the new distancing requirements, while those in their 50s who have done so after – and new permit holders – can only rent part of their home and are required to stay there. stay while they are rented.
Others should have a representative available to respond to any issues immediately, Floyd said.
The city’s action came the same day Airbnb introduced “anti-party tools” to screen “potentially high-risk bookings,” the company said.
According to the company, it will look at the property’s valuation history, as well as data on how long homes have been rented, and compare weekday and weekend stays.
“Our announcement today on new anti-party technology aims to build on that success and continue to fight unauthorized parties in support of our hosts, neighbors and the Nevada communities we serve,” said writes the company in a press release.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at [email protected]. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter.
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