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Airbnb, HomeAway Create Coalition to Regulate Short-Term Rentals

  • February 26, 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.

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

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