10A Action Items 2018 0723 - Laserfiche WebLink

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File #:17-616,Version:1 Safety While commercial lodging facilities are required to comply with a number of building, fire, health, and safety codes, there are no equivalent standards or requirements for short-term rentals in private homes. Websites that list short-term rentals have no responsibility or liability for ensuring that hosts are providing occupants with a safe environment. It is up to each individual city to decide upon which, if any, safety requirements to impose. At a minimum, most cities require short-term rental hosts to submit annual proof of liability insurance with significant commercial coverage. A safety inspection or certification of the property is also a possible requirement. Safety inspections can be done by either an approved third party or a city building inspector, who would typically inspect and address things like fire egress, smoke detectors, and building code issues. Safety also includes establishing provisions requiring that an evacuation plan and emergency contact information is clearly posted in the home or room being rented. Business License and Tax Collection The City of San Leandro’s Municipal Code currently would require any host offering a short-term rental to obtain both a city business license as well as a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate from the Finance Department. This certificate is required under the City’s Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) provisions in the Municipal Code and applies to any operator providing short- term lodging, including both hotels and single-family homes. The holder of the certificate is required to collect, report, and remit transient occupancy taxes to the City, which are currently set at 14%. The Municipal Code contains penalties for operators who fail to report and submit any tax payments due. Enforcement With or without a required permit, short-term rentals generally function on an honor system where the host is responsible for reporting the number of nights of occupancy and paying taxes to the City. It is practically impossible for cities to accurately collect taxes from short-term rentals, as there is no way to know how often they are rented and for how much. The expense of operating a short-term rental permit program directly correlates with the amount of enforcement desired. The two primary tools for enforcing short-term rentals generally involve responding to complaints and monitoring short-term rental website listings. A response-based approach is the most cost effective. Proactively monitoring online listings would require the assistance of a consultant specializing in monitoring online listing data, because there are hundreds of potential listing websites and listings change constantly. To encourage compliance, short-term rental permits should be reasonably priced with uncomplicated application requirements. Any permit process should also include procedures for suspension and revocation to address potential problems. Addressing Short-Term Rentals in San Leandro San Leandro does not have a substantial number of short-term rentals and, given the high cost of housing and because San Leandro is a suburban community with limited tourism, staff does not expect to see significant growth in their numbers if their use was legalized. However, allowing non- hosted short-term rentals impacts the availability of housing. The amount of transient occupancy tax revenue generated by enabling short-term rentals in San Leandro is assumed to be limited and unlikely to compensate for the full cost of permitting and enforcement. San Leandro already has a City of San Leandro Page 4 of 6