{"id":4752,"date":"2016-10-25T19:44:43","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T23:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=4752"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:52:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:52:58","slug":"watch-short-term-rentals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/watch-short-term-rentals\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Out!: Short-term Rentals"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nAirBnB,<\/span> VRBO,<\/span> HomeAway, and other internet platforms allow people to rent out their properties for short-term stays.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span> Owners like the boost in income while neighbors, home owner associations, and localities worry about the under-regulated influx of strangers.\u00a0 So, are these short-term rentals a good thing?
\nPositive Aspects of Short-term Rentals<\/strong>
\nProperty owners like short-term rentals<\/a><\/span> explain that short-term rentals provide extra income, they allow the owner to meet new people, they enable the owner to learn new business skills, and the internet medium through which these rentals rely enables owners to connect with a large audience of renters.
\nWould-be renters like short-term rentals because they can be cheaper than nearby hotels, they add variety to a trip, they enable renters to find rooms where no hotel rooms are available (like Chicago this year during the World Series, Go Cubs Go!), and, after all, its all the rage on the inter-web these days.
\nNegative Aspects of Short-term Rentals<\/strong>
\nOne complaint of short-term rentals, especially in condominium buildings is that \u201cneighborhood residents find strangers in their midst<\/a><\/span> uncomfortable\u201d and that when they come home they do not know if \u201c[they]\u2019ve got a trick, a poker game or a cocaine deal going on next door.\u201d
\nOther complaints<\/a><\/span> include misleading ads and property descriptions, slow online reservation systems, some hosts are not so wonderful, the rental space may lack security, reviews can mislead would-be renters, and hotel amenities may be absent.
\nLocal governments are concerned that short-term rentals, secured over the internet, allow property owners to bypass the taxation that normal hotels pay.\u00a0 States and cities also worry that short-term rental locations lack the security enjoyed at traditional hotels because it is difficult for renters to determine how safe the local area is.
\nHow Localities are Handling Short-term Rentals<\/strong>
\nStates and municipalities have responded in a myriad of ways.\u00a0 New York City banned<\/a><\/span> short-term rentals on AirBnB entirely.\u00a0 Austin stopped licensing<\/a><\/span> anyone who wants to rent their property for less than 30 days.\u00a0 Chicago responded by increasing taxes<\/a><\/span> on short-term rentals to 21%.
\nSan Francisco passed an ordinance that requires residents listing their property on AirBnB to register<\/a><\/span> their property with the city and county.
\nHow the Sites have Responded<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not every day that a major tech company sues its hometown. But that\u2019s exactly what just happened . . . Airbnb sued the city and county of San Francisco over\u201d the registration law it passed.\u00a0 AirBnB does resists the restrictions that have been emplaced by cities and states interested in regulating its business.<\/p>\n

The varied approaches cities have taken to govern short-term rentals makes \u201clegal restrictions on short-term rentals . . . confusing<\/a><\/span>\u201dand lacking in uniformity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
\nTo make matters worse, websites like AirBnB \u201cprovide little help to prospective hosts<\/a><\/span> to understand or comply with\u201d new laws.\u00a0 They have, however, taken steps to protect themselves by filing lawsuits.
\nWhile the explosion of short-term rentals provide renters with flexibility and property owners with income, both sides need to take steps to protect themselves.\u00a0 Localities will likely continue to regain control of the industry, but they may not be able to keep pace with rapid changes in technology that enable the short-term rental market.\u00a0 Furthermore, it is not likely AirBnB and other sites will feel inspired to provide greater assistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  AirBnB, VRBO, HomeAway, and other internet platforms allow people to rent out their properties for short-term stays.\u00a0 Owners like the boost in income while neighbors, home owner associations, and localities worry about the under-regulated influx of strangers.\u00a0 So, are these short-term rentals a good thing? Positive Aspects of Short-term Rentals Property owners like short-term …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7148,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4752\/revisions\/7148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}