Post by High Priestess on Aug 27, 2018 16:06:32 GMT
The city of New Orleans is trying to tighten up its short term rental regulations. I've heard from one host in NOLA that things have gone badly south after the city became more restrictive about issuing STR licenses. Originally, they had AIrbnb on board with them, helping them regulate STRs, in that Airbnb had agreed that no one in New Orleans could set up an STR listing on their site without registering with the city. But then when the city began to restrict licenses for STRs, Airbnb backed out of that agreement, so now Airbnb will not help NOLA police the listings in the city. Which, in my opinion, it should never have agreed to do in the first place. When Airbnb allows itself to get pulled into the job of policing listings in cities, you can bet that every city will ask that this be done for them. Cities can do their own policing. It is not hard, if the focus is on a few "bad actors". IF there are 20,000 illegal listings in a city, that makes it harder, but if there are 20,000 illegal listings in a city, then IMHO the city needs to change its laws to stop making outlaws out of so many people.
SOmething else the city is trying to do is classify STR operators as commercial properties.
www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_35848488-a8a1-11e8-8b6b-67f3a98e390c.html
The plan, initiated by the Tax Commission, could see taxes on some of the city's short-term rentals jump by nearly 50 percent, potentially enough to cause some owners to think twice when deciding whether to rent a home to a long-term tenant or list it for tourists on sites like Airbnb.
The change is focused on New Orleans because of the concentration of short-term rentals in the city, but it could potentially be applied statewide.
The move comes as New Orleans officials are re-evaluating the short-term rental rules that went into effect in 2017. Members of the City Council who took office this year have indicated they want to tighten the regulations.
If the city tries to turn residential homes into "commerical properties", I would like to see a group of homeowners sue the city over that. Renting out a residential home in no way makes it a "commerical property", or else anyone who rents out a house would fall under that category. The duration of the rental doesn't in my view make any difference -- the use is still residential in nature, whether a guest stays 2 days or 2 years. THis issue of whether STRs are a commerical or residential use of property came up in Colorado and a Colorado court ruled on the matter, saying the use is clearly residential: globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/819
SOmething else the city is trying to do is classify STR operators as commercial properties.
www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_35848488-a8a1-11e8-8b6b-67f3a98e390c.html
The plan, initiated by the Tax Commission, could see taxes on some of the city's short-term rentals jump by nearly 50 percent, potentially enough to cause some owners to think twice when deciding whether to rent a home to a long-term tenant or list it for tourists on sites like Airbnb.
The change is focused on New Orleans because of the concentration of short-term rentals in the city, but it could potentially be applied statewide.
The move comes as New Orleans officials are re-evaluating the short-term rental rules that went into effect in 2017. Members of the City Council who took office this year have indicated they want to tighten the regulations.
If the city tries to turn residential homes into "commerical properties", I would like to see a group of homeowners sue the city over that. Renting out a residential home in no way makes it a "commerical property", or else anyone who rents out a house would fall under that category. The duration of the rental doesn't in my view make any difference -- the use is still residential in nature, whether a guest stays 2 days or 2 years. THis issue of whether STRs are a commerical or residential use of property came up in Colorado and a Colorado court ruled on the matter, saying the use is clearly residential: globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/819