Clark County approves regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb

UPDATE (June 22): Clark County Commissioners have approved an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals in unincorporated Clark County.

Provisions of the ordinance include rules that prohibit more than one short-term rental from being within 1,000 feet of each other.

Additionally, hosts must allow the county to inspect residential units without notice. And, it allows misdemeanor citations for violations of the ordinance, which means the possibility of criminal liability for issues as minor as the placement of trash.

The order was prompted by the Nevada legislature, requiring the county to allow short-term rental businesses, such as Airbnb, to operate.

Airbnb said in a statement Tuesday that the new rules will limit the number of accommodations available to visitors and make it harder for Clark County residents to share their homes.

ORIGINAL REPORT (May 5): Whether you like it or not, short-term rentals are returning to unincorporated Clark County.

Commissioners are racing to come up with a game plan for how they should be regulated ahead of the July 1 deadline.

The order follows the passage of Assembly Bill 363, which requires Clark County to license and regulate short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo.

Last week, the county published its project short term rental order.

Commissioner Justin Jones said thousands of residents responded to the county’s survey, which served as the basis for the proposed settlement. “The results showed that people wanted more restrictions on short-term rentals.”

All cities – Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas – have their own regulations for these rentals like Airbnb or Vrbo, but Clark County has never had a licensing process for them.

Jones said the county was offering to keep the upfront fee low because they wanted to make sure they weren’t excluding regular homeowners. Ultimately, he said, fines for violations are steep.

Owners of these rentals may be disqualified if they receive noise complaints or if a crime occurs on their properties. They wanted to make sure that “party houses” could have their licenses withdrawn immediately. For seven years after that, the owner cannot apply for a new license.

The number of licenses will limit short-term rentals to 1% of the total housing stock, Jones said, which is about 2,000 to 3,000 units.

“We’ve heard a lot of concerns that this will eliminate affordable housing, that we already have a crisis, and so we’re going to go ahead and use a random generation process to decide who gets these licenses and they have to comply with all other regulations that govern their remote separation and ensure that they have residential sewers, hookups, commercial waste, etc. “, did he declare.

Operating an unlicensed short-term rental in unincorporated Clark County could result in fines of up to $1,000 to $10,000 per day, depending on the type of violation. The fines are high because the biggest offenders “don’t care, they don’t pay” as they earn tens of thousands of dollars, he said.

Apartments cannot be listed, Jones said, but condominiums can be if the HOA allows it. For condos, 10% of a complex can be used for short term rentals.

While enforcement falls to a county team and a partnership with Las Vegas police, Jones said they will be in the Nevada Legislature next year, asking for more power in that department.

“We don’t think the authority given to us in this bill, AB 363, is enough to enforce what the state told us we had to do,” he said.

Jackie Flores, the founder of the Greater Las Vegas Short Term Rental Association, strongly disagreed with the proposal, saying it was “as horrible as expected”.

“It’s an order that just seeks to destroy the short-term rental industry, takes away people’s ability to earn a living,” she said. “And that’s just to make it difficult and impossible for some to be able to qualify for a license.”

She thinks there are currently about 10,000 to 12,000 operators in unincorporated Clark County.

“Everyone has been punished for the actions of a few,” she said, noting that their group does not support party houses and believes they should be heavily regulated. “It is unfair that they are treated as bad actors when they have done nothing to be treated in this regard.”

She posted a note on the county’s website, asking residents who suspect their neighbors are running a short-term rental to report them. Jones said it was not a “campaign”, but that they were “complaint-driven”.

One of the many regulations prohibits a short-term rental within 1,000 feet of an existing short-term rental or within 2,500 feet of a hotel complex.

“Many of our members feel that our Democratic officials, our leaders here in the county and in the state, are at war with ordinary people. And they are here only to protect corporate profits,” she said.

Jones said the county included similar distancing bans on many licensees, including dispensaries and bars.

“I focus on protecting my constituents. My constituents overwhelmingly said they want restrictions on short-term rentals,” he said.

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