DCRA Releases Revised Short-Term Rental Regulations For DC

• February 22nd 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

DC recently came out with a revised set of potential rules for short-term rentals in the city that clarify and provide more detail about the framework surrounding these rentals. 

Nearly 2.5 years ago, the DC Council passed a bill outlining a regulatory framework for the city's short-term rentals on sites like Airbnb. The latest set of proposed rules from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) codify how the agency will enforce those regulations.

While the meat of the rulemaking remains the same, some suggestions made by the public were incorporated in the revisions, including:

• Nixing the requirement that hosts post a written cleaning plan "conspicuously" in the short-term rental;
• Specifying the type of information for which hosts will need to retain records (eg. dates of stays, number of guests in a given booking, what platform used to book, etc.);
• Excluding guests from using a host's visitors' parking permit;
• Permitting hosts to have both one short-term rental license and one vacation rental license (the latter pertaining to bookings when the host is not present on the premises);
• Clarifying that "short-term rental" applies to stays of fewer than 30 consecutive days;
• Broadening the scope upon which licenses can be suspended or revoked for noncompliance;
• Clarifying that "entire residence" rentals could pertain to a specific portion of the residence if disclosed in the listing; and
• Clarifying that accessory dwelling units on the premises of a primary residence, even if separately metered, can qualify as part of the host's primary residence. 

Under the regulations, hosts with valid short-term rental licenses can admit guests for an unlimited number of nights while they remain on the premises. With a vacation rental license for short-term rentals, hosts can admit guests for a maximum of 90 days while they are out of town unless they apply for an exception for leaving town for work or to temporarily care for a close relative.

When the comment period for the rules concludes, DCRA may either revise the rulemaking if substantive changes are made, or seek approval through the mayor's office to issue the final rules. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dcra-releases-revised-short-term-rental-regulations-tweaked-per-public-comm/17912.