The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the basics of a short-term rental ordinance regulating Airbnb-type rentals, though didn’t formally approve it pending a few changes that need to be review.
The supervisors expect to formally approve the ordinance, the county’s first, at their March 31 meeting.
The ordinance, when formally approved, will require that a “responsible party” who is at least 18 years old and living within a 30-mile radius of the rental property be identified. That person must be available by telephone for the duration of any rental period to respond to neighbors’ complaints or law enforcement concerns about activity at the short-term rental.
Under the new ordinance, owners of short-term rental units will have to get permits from the county’s Department of Conservation and Development. Discussions are expected to continue with Airbnb and other
rental platforms about collection of transient occupancy taxes — the same as collected from area hotels and motels — and work with the county’s tax collector’s office to establish a collection process.
The ordinance does not allow for using accessory dwelling units, also known as “in-law units” as short-term rentals.
This ordinance is also intended to help county officials provide some measure of control over what happens at these rental units, and avoid the kind of disaster that rocked Orinda, when on Halloween night five people were shot and killed at a party.
The house was known as a party house, and was an Airbnb-listed rental property with owners who didn’t live in the area.
5 comments
If people want to rent out their homes that’s a business transaction and should be handled accordingly.
The neighbors sure didn’t buy a house with the expectation that someone near them is running what is essentially a hotel where they have no real idea who will be brought into the area.
I agree.
It’s a good thing we live in a nanny state to take care of us, and regulate who can and cannot come and go from property we own.
While I generally agree with your sentiments, it’s one thing for a homeowner to rent or lease a property to an actual tenant but it’s altogether another thing to treat the property as a glorified flophouse. The former brings stability to the neighborhood; the latter likely brings chaos and crime. These homes in the suburbs are not vacation homes — they are located in neighborhoods where the homes serve as the primary residence for the vast majority of people who live there.
Supervisors tweaking, huh? Well, that explains a lot!
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