Airbnb, HomeAway Create Coalition to Regulate Short-Term Rentals

• February 26, 2013
• 3 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

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:

• 1200 Percent: The Airbnb Inauguration Spike
• Cashing In: DC’s Lucrative Short-Term Rental Market
• UrbanTurf Reader Asks: Should I Rent Out My Condo Through Airbnb?

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

3 Comments

1. Jay William said at 9:02 pm on Thursday February 28, 2013:
   rethThis industry is quickly changing, the vacation rental crack down is in motion. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

1. Jay William said at 11:36 pm on Friday March 1, 2013:
   Shilpi Paul Get in touch with us on our vacation rental marketing blog @ http://www.villamarketers.com/community thanks

1. Jacqueline Reed said at 5:36 pm on Sunday March 3, 2013:
   The majority of properties listed on airb&b are operating illegally. DC has licensing laws and they require that properties be properly licensed, that they have proper insurance and that they pay the DC Sales and Occupancy tax of 14.5% for all stays under 90 days. New York City and some other city have banned these cites and DC should take steps against them also. The properties on this website should play by the rules just like everyone else.