DC Bill Would Prevent Residents From Renting Out Second Homes on Airbnb

• September 28th 2018

by UrbanTurf Staff

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A far more restrictive bill regarding Airbnb in the District of Columbia will be introduced next week. 

The Washington Post is reporting that a revised bill will be introduced on Tuesday which will ban DC residents from renting out second homes on Airbnb and similar services. The bill would also limit the number of days that a primary residence could be rented while the owner is not present to 90 days annually. 

The “Short-term Rental Regulation and Affordable Housing Protection Act of 2017” was originally introduced by Councilman Kenyan McDuffie in early 2017. In that version, any host of a short-term rental would have to be a permanent resident of the listed dwelling unit and also have verifiable DC residency. Hosts would be limited to listing one unit and would have to be present while the home is rented. A vacation rental option would also be created for stays of up to 15 days without the host being present. 

The original and revised legislation are motivated by the desire to ensure that affordable housing stock is maintained in the District. Last year, DC Attorney General Karl Racine sued Armenian company Ginosi for operating four apartment complexes in DC as “illegal hotels” that operated short-term rentals. The bill is intended to prevent this sort of commercial short-term rental activity from happening in the District in order to mitigate any impact on the availability of long-term rental stock (especially where affordable housing is concerned).

The revised legislation would have a significant economic effect on many DC residents currently renting out portions of their homes on sites like Airbnb. In March, Airbnb released data showing that senior hosts in the District grossed a total of $5.5 million in 2017, a 50 percent increase over 2016. These hosts earned $10,600 each, on average, from the platform in 2017. 

Get ready for some fireworks on Tuesday. 

Similar Posts: 

• How To Legally List on Airbnb in DC
• Prince George's County Looks to Regulate Short-Term Rentals
• One in 10 Airbnb Hosts Are Teachers

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/revised-airbnb-bill-would-prevent-dc-residents-from-renting-out-second-home/14507.