Posted on 03/22/2018 12:31:08 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Over the last decade, short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway, and VRBO have expanded and provided an economic boom to many communities.
Yet several localities are pursuing onerous zoning rules and other regulations that would restrict short-term rental activity.
For many homeowners, short-term rental provides a critical source of additional income to help them pay their mortgages and to meet other financial obligations. States can protect their residents from overzealous, local bureaucrats with state pre-emption.
Short-term rental helps local communities by growing the number of tourists that visit the area. A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that out of all Airbnb reservations, 42 to 63 percent would not have resulted in a hotel stay.
Despite the benefits to communities, short-term rental has come under increased scrutiny from state and local officials as it has expanded in both size and scope. Hotels and other legacy industries that see short-term rental as a threat to their market power have lobbied powerful legislators to impose strict requirements on platforms and their hosts.
One proposal, currently being considered in the Maryland Legislature, would empower localities to impose arbitrary regulations on short-term rentals while requiring platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO to enforce them. In the process, the state would impose onerous information collection requirements on hosts and platforms, undermining the privacy of hosts and their guests.
SB 1081 and the companion bill, HB 1604, are currently moving through both the Maryland House and Senate.
The hotel lobby is the primary driver behind this legislative push. Emerging home-sharing platforms like Airbnb pose a threat to the traditional hotel business model.
Home sharing also limits the ability of hotels to price gouge their customers during peak times, as it provides customers alternative lodging options when they are needed most.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
While I see that there are two sides to this issue, I would not want my neighbors using their homes for “short term rentals” frequently.
I hate saying this, but the UK actually had a good set of guidelines for this.
You’re allowed to earn income from the short term rentals up to something like a thousand pounds. So you can rent it out here and there, but you can’t eliminate a local rental unit to rent out to tourists, and you can’t make it so often that it essentially impacts local traffic.
Members of my family love Airbnb but I would prefer a very good hotel.
.
Sooner or later, liberalism destroys everything.
it provides customers alternative lodging options when they are needed most.
= = =
Isn’t this kind of how Socialism is supposed to work?
Like over in Europe, where 2nd homes are appropriated for the poor refugee mooslimes.
An AirBub rental went terribly wrong sometime near New Years Eve in this small community. It was quite a mess and took several towns police departments to clean up the mess without there being a riot.
I agree. They did this to one of my friends property close by and the neighbors have to put up with the BNB crowd. Every damn week, a different person and they dont know who really was the tenant.
One of the most infamous question asked at Reddit for these AIRBNB clowns is, “if you live in apartments, why would you want to rent and live in ANOTHER apartment? Dont you want a change of scenery aka hotel where you have the feel of travelling and being outside your normal life?”
I think AirBNB is dying a natural death.
Agreed 100%.
However, I will NEVER use an AirBNB. Too many unknowns and I’m not going down the list of risks here.
“An AirBub rental went terribly wrong sometime near New Years Eve in this small community. It was quite a mess and took several towns police departments to clean up the mess without there being a riot.”
That is VERY frightening-—glad you posted about it.
.
Lets say I have a condo in a nice location and I also have another place to live. I have these choices:
1. I can sell the condo
2. I can become a landlord and rent the condo
3 Or if AirBnb is a choice, I can list the condo and let short term visitors stay and charge more than the monthly rent.
It seems to me that this situation will be market limiting. I will do what seems to be the highest and best use of my property and take into consideration how much work I have to do. For example the AirBnb may be the most lucrative but I may have to do a lot of cleaning and laundry every time a guest leaves.
Why would the City government want to disturb this arrangement? How much are the local hotels paying the city government for the ability to snuff out option 3?
How will the city know whether this condo is a regular rental unit or not? Do they find out because I rented it for a while and now want to use AirBn? That seems pretty cruel. This would mean that when you find yourself with a piece of real property, the next thing you do may commit you to a policy that can never be changed. Ug. Sorta like rent control.
As for the traffic, it would seem that any option that results in people at the condo will result in traffic. I cannot see that using rentals for local tourism would impact the traffic at the condo any more than would a tenant. Am I missing something?
The city/state government want their rooms & meals tax.
I think many AirBnB properties do not pay tax on their rental income. Therefore, it is cutting into the governments piece of the action. This is why.
We started using AirBnB a couple of years ago when our daughter’s family outgrew her house’s ability to accommodate our visits, and there were no convenient hotels. It was an excellent experience, since repeated several times. We just got back from a Florida vacation trip and stayed four more nights at two AirBnBs, again excellent experiences. Initially driven by inability to find motel rooms in the Spring Break environment, these were nicer, cheaper and more convenient. Started looking into doing it with our own house - insurance etc. looked like obstacles we could get through, but discovered the county is in the process of banning the practice. As usual, punish the innocent to avoid dealing with the problem, and also protect the ‘connected’ from competition.
AirBnB files 1099 forms with the Feds, so you’d better at least declare the income on your US income tax. Not sure how well compliance would go with the ‘extort the non-voters’ taxes.
Remind me not to go into Maryland or spend any money there.
I don’t mind the idea of one, just give people on the street contact info if it’s a whole-house thing, and you aren’t going to be there, just in case. Also limit the number of people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
