Airbnb itself had a moment. The short-term rental service exploded several years ago, giving holidaymakers an alternative to the hotel business. The service, which was conceived by two roommates in San Francisco who wanted to earn a few extra bucks by renting a spare room, eventually took on a life of its own, and while it provided travelers with additional flexibility, it had a negative impact on housing communities across the country. Specifically, it allowed individuals to gobble up properties and turn them into short-term rentals, which artificially inflated housing and rental costs. But now the City of Scottsdale is looking to put a stop to that.
Since its inception, short-term rentals have had no oversight from local and state governments. While being run like businesses, the properties had advantages over hotels and other traditional vacation rentals because they didn’t have to pay special taxes or follow the same rules. Basically, once a landlord decided to rent the house or apartment, the city, neighbors and community members had little or no say (unless there was have regulations incorporated into an HOA). At the last city council, all that is about to change.
During the October 25, 2022, Scottsdale City Council Meeting, the board voted unanimously in favor of the newly revised short-term rental rules. The new changes will come into effect on January 8, 2023, giving owners just over two months to comply with the updated requirements.
To begin with, all short-term rental properties will need to obtain a local license. They will also need to take out liability insurance and notify neighbors of their desire to rent the property as a short-term rental. On top of that, landlords will now be required to perform sex offender background checks on every booking guest. Instead of allowing anyone and everyone with a credit card to rent the space for a vacation rental, they will have to run a full background and sex offender check, and if they fail to verification, they will not be allowed to rent the property.
The goal of these measures is not only to improve the safety and livability of the local community, but also to help stabilize the housing and rental markets in Scottsdale. Failure to comply with any of the updated requirements will, according to the Scottsdale City Council, result in “serious consequences”, although the exact consequences were not outlined at the Oct. 25 meeting.
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