PHOENIX – Two bills were discussed Thursday morning in the Arizona Legislature that would regulate vacation rental properties statewide.
Before the committee considered the legislation in the Senate, dozens of vacation rental owners and operators gathered outside Capitol Hill to voice their opposition to bills they deem “excessive.”
Senator Kate Brophy McGee’s Senate Bill 1154 would allow landlords to rent vacation rentals only once in a 30-day period.
A bill sponsored by Representative John Kavanagh would add more regulation to short-term rentals by requiring the landlord to meet each tenant in person upon check-in and require that the landlord’s contact details be displayed outside the rental .
Kavanagh’s legislation would also require the installation of noise monitoring equipment.
.@KateMcGeeAZ alongside Kate Bauer who runs TAP (Take Action Phoenix) a neighborhood watch group. She expresses her frustrations with what some vacation rentals are doing in the neighborhoods. @ KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/2zis8tUjBH
– Ali Vetnar (@Ali_Vetnar) February 20, 2020
Vacation home rental operators believe the legislation is unreasonable and excessive. Supporters of the bill hope that there can be a compromise if the bills are not passed.
Wearing matching orange shirts with the words ‘Protect our Right to Rent’, many owners and operators of rental accommodation on Airbnb and Vrbo have said that the properties are major sources of their income and that the proposed legislation will significantly harm them. business.
“The economy it represents is compelling,” said Mark Bauvis KTAR News 92.3 FM. “Second, 99% of vacation rental operators are responsible neighbors, adding value to neighborhoods and improving the value of properties around them. “
Bauvis has acknowledged the bad owners and said he would be in favor of helping tackle abuse, but doesn’t want to be punished for the 1% that is bad apples.
Kate Bauer, who heads the neighborhood watch group called Take Action Phoenix, has spoken out in favor of Brophy McGee’s bill.
“These homes are having a serious impact on our already stretched police force and the additional calls of offenses they must run out on,” Bauer told the committee.
“The officers did not see or witness the activity and there is nothing they can do about it, so it is a waste of their precious time.”
Bauer also wanted the committee to look at what essentially vacant homes will do with regard to the census count in Arizona.
After sharing his testimony with the committee, Bauer said KTAR news she said she wasn’t 100% against vacation rental properties but thinks it’s a zoning issue.
“We thought we were buying in a single-family residential area, not in a commercial area,” she said. “It causes a lot of unease when you see investors coming in and buying blocks of houses and using them as short-term rentals. “
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