Measure in San Francisco Would Limit Airbnb Rentals to 75 Nights Annually

• October 26, 2015

by UrbanTurf Staff

An Airbnb rental in San Francisco

San Francisco has been ground zero for Airbnb news recently, and it has nothing to do with the company’s headquarters being located in the city.

Last week, the very successful temporary rental company drew criticism for ads it was running that provided city agencies with advice on what they could do with the money that Airbnb hosts were paying in hotel taxes.

Those ads are part of an attempt to sway San Francisco residents to vote against Proposition F, a measure up for a vote next week that would heavily regulate Airbnb rentals in the city. Most notably, it would cap short-term rentals for a single residence at 75 nights a year, and require companies like Airbnb to take rentals off its site that violate this requirement.

The measure would also require hosts to notify neighbors when they begin to host short-term rentals, and require quarterly guest and revenue reports from hosts. The city will vote on the measure on November 3rd.

In late September, Councilmember Vincent Orange introduced two bills aimed at regulating Airbnb rentals in DC. The first bill would restrict temporary rentals of apartments or houses if the owner isn’t present, and would also create a division within the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) to “oversee the District’s response to widespread or systematic conditions in the District, which threaten residents’ quality of life and demand special attention and to institute requirements for short-term rentals.” The second bill, backed by hotel owners, is less restrictive. It largely aims to prevent “superusers” or hosts that rent out several Airbnb units for business purposes.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/measure_in_san_francisco_would_limit_airbnb_rentals_to_75_nights_annually/10506