Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Airbnb, HomeAway Create Coalition to Regulate Short-Term Rentals

  • February 26th 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Airbnb, HomeAway Create Coalition to Regulate Short-Term Rentals: Figure 1

The internet has made it much easier to generate income via your home. Homeowners can easily find short-term renters over the web through sites like Airbnb and HomeAway, and travelers have an alternative to hotels.

However, various legalities and the occasional upset home owners association have threatened to derail the sites. The industry emerged before a new set of regulations to govern the transactions could be created in many cities. Some laws that bubbled up in the aftermath put limitations on the practice: New York and Portland largely banned short-term rentals, and Austin now mandates that all short-term landlords acquire and pay for an annual license. While Airbnb currently tells owners not to “break any laws,” many are, at their own risk, renting their unit without a Business License or against the rules of their condo or co-op regulations.

Now, reports the Wall Street Journal, Airbnb, HomeAway, TripAdvisor and FlipKey have banded together to start the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center. With the goal of creating a “legislative blueprint,” the Short-Term Rental Advocacy Center hopes to work with cities to keep their industry alive through friendlier regulations.

From the article:

The site will aggregate short-term-rental-friendly regulations from around the country in hopes of creating a blueprint that cities can use to craft new short-term rental regulations. Short-term rental sites have said they are in favor of cities taxing short-term rentals much like cities and counties slap occupancy taxes on hotels and inns.

Given the growing popularity of these sites, it will be interesting to see how the group can help shape new regulations.

Similar Posts:

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/airbnb_and_other_short_term_rental_sites_band_together/6708.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse