The vacation rental industry seems like such a blessing with just pros and zero cons for both the guest and the host. Recent popularity inflammation leads everyone to believe and ask the question of “What could possibly go wrong?”
The increasing success rates has made it more tempting for the inexperienced to want a piece of the cake. This is where everything goes wrong. When individuals start vacation rentals for the sake of money disregarding the guest experience and safety and even the law at times.
The lengths some hosts would go through to get that extra buck will seem completely unreasonable to most but in times of desperation these people have no option but to. From tax fraud to safety hazards, false advertising and insanitary habits, hosts like this have basically ruined the industry for everyone and have even pushed some authorities to outright ban all short-term rentals from that entire state or region.
New York state in October 2016 passed some of the toughest restrictions on short-term rentals in the country. In most of New York City, it’s now illegal to advertise or rent an entire apartment on a platform like Airbnb for less than 30 days unless the host is present and there are only one or two guests.
Some infamous channels like Airbnb is expected to have strict rules and hosting requirements before applying as one would expect but that isn’t always the case.
Legislation and Airbnb Advocacy
Airbnb basically leaves the laws of the city to filter out and standardize vacation rentals. Which also means that if your region doesn’t have any laws concerning short-term rentals, anything flies.
Airbnb doesn’t penalize or restrict hosts that don’t abide by the rules of the state or even those that have caused harm to the guests. Even for Airbnb, discerning each and every law per region is difficult to achieve unless governments take the initiative to enforce these laws and reach out to these Vacation rental channels to properly bring them to effect.
Airbnb has also taken a step towards helping the city and the hosts of those regions by calculating, collecting and remitting local occupancy tax even though occupancy tax is calculated differently in every jurisdiction. Even though this service is limited to some regions with clear outlined laws regards these matters, Airbnb is attempting to include every and each host possible.
In conclusion, Airbnb trusts you certify your adherence to local laws and regulations when accepting their terms and regulations contract.
Since Vacation Rentals have shown to actually benefit cities majorly when done right, (click “link” to check out how Vacation Rentals help Cities) it is the duty of the government for enforce and enhance the laws pertaining Short-term rentals.
The Repercussions
Outright bаnѕ or severe lіmіtаtіоnѕ оnlу furthеr аn undеrgrоund есоnomy that is аlrеаdу рrеѕеnt, аnd thоѕе rеntіng hоmеѕ wіll сrеаtіvеlу аdарt аnd make іt dіffісult fоr сіtу rеgulаtіоnѕ tо bе еffесtіvе іn асhіеvіng thеіr рurроѕе.
Full frее-mаrkеt and рrореrtу rіghtѕ-оrіеntеd аrgumеntѕ dоn’t аddrеѕѕ соmmunіtу іmрасtѕ оr рrоvіdе guаrаntееѕ tо соnсеrnеd neighbors.
Vасаtіоn rеntаlѕ are flуіng under thе rаdаr lеѕѕ аnd lеѕѕ, but there аrе a vаrіеtу of factors tо consider when dеvеlоріng an оrdіnаnсе оr uрdаtіng existing rеgulаtіоnѕ.
Things to Consider
Thе аbіlіtу tо rent оnе’ѕ рrореrtу еvеn іn thе short-term mау bе a trеmеndоuѕ аіd tо struggling hоmеоwnеrѕ. By рrоvіdіng ѕhоrt-tеrm rеntаlѕ, the owner mау ѕhіft аnd ѕhаrе thе burdеn оf hоmеоwnеrѕhір. Thіѕ shifting can help to dеfrау mortgage, homeowners аѕѕосіаtіоn, аnd rеаl еѕtаtе tаx соѕtѕ.
Mоrе ovеr, thе ѕhаrіng оf thіѕ burden, thrоugh thе соnѕеԛuеnt ѕhаrіng оf thе bеnеfіtѕ оf hоmеоwnеrѕhір uѕе and enjoyment in particular саn hеlр tо avoid оr at lеаѕt mіtіgаtе іnѕtаnсеѕ of blight due tо dіѕrераіr, distressed ѕаlеѕ аt bеlоw-mаrkеt-rаtе ѕаlеѕ рrісеѕ, аnd еvеn fоrесlоѕurеѕ.
Thuѕ, allowing оwnеrѕ to home ѕhаrе саn рrоtесt a соmmunіtу’ѕ character and рrореrtу vаluеѕ bу hеlріng tо іnѕulаtе іndіvіduаl оwnеrѕ frоm thе еffесtѕ оf negative housing market dоwnturnѕ.
Local governments need to work towards effective and enforceable regulations to protect communities, neighborhood character and housing availability.
Passing such radical laws can also harm perfectly functioning professional management companies. For example, JZ Vacation Rentals make sure to collect up to 16.9% Lodging tax, and guarantees comfort by using a “NoiseAware” detector, having off-street parking, and also brings out how important a professional screening process is.
Our Solution
We at JZ Vacation Rentals believe that governments should reconsider, re-evaluate and enforce their laws so that inexperienced hosts will be omitted from the market allowing only professionally managed vacation rental companies to continue to keep producing positive feedback from the guest for the city, the economy and industry.
This will also reduce the burden on cities from having to check out each home to just doing timely check ups on the host themselves.
We also provide a solution to struggling homeowners so they can minimize errors by hiring a vacation rental management company to look after their property.
The benefits are countless and ease of effect of this method is very plausible by any government.
