As we’ve already seen, regulatory haggles are only one step away from Airbnb and other online rental aggregators. While the startups have tried to work things out with the government by citing tax arrangements in most of the cities. But, Seattle seems to have found a new approach to crack down on short-terms rental being offered by the common populace to travelers on platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, and others.
The Seattle City Council is limiting the number of properties any host can register on rental platforms (we’ll talk about Airbnb for the ease of understanding). With its new regulations in tow, Seattle is now planning to rain down on hosts who operate Airbnb as a hotel aggregation service. This means multiple locations around the town are listed and rented out by an individual, in search of some extra cash.
According to new regulations, which are more relaxed than some other locations in the United States, the city of Seattle will now be providing individuals with the liberty to host only two properties on short-term rental platforms. This means you will be able to rent out your own place, along with another housing unit. And that’s simple, but the Seattle City Council has an added procedure to make individuals accountable of the listings.
In addition to the traditional business license, the hosts will now also be required to obtain a Short Term Rental Operator’s license if they’re listing their primary residence on short-term rental platforms. It will enable the city to keep an inventory of the housing units still available on the market, thus rebuilding the long-term rental ecosystem. These license number provided to you upon registration can easily be tracked and cross-referenced to the number of properties you have registered on Airbnb.
Speaking on the regulations, Laura Spanjian, Airbnb’s public policy director for the Northwest said (via Geekwire):
Airbnb welcomes the new proposal from the City of Seattle regarding the proposed regulation of short-term rentals. We continue to work closely with the City on developing regulations that will protect Seattle’s long-term housing stock while allowing thousands of responsible Airbnb hosts to share their homes to earn meaningful supplemental income to help make ends meet.
As mentioned above, the city of Seattle has proposed the said change in regulations because the shortage in residencies was swelling. Most residents of the town were picking up properties and putting them up for rent on Airbnb and other short-term rental operators.
The new proposal has been debuted to build a harmony between those visiting the town for recreational purposes and those willing to live in the city for long. It will now be presented before the Council’s Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods, and Finance Committee in early June. It is presently not clear how well the proposed actions will work in favor of the city.
And though the new regulation may limit the number of listings on the company’s platform, it will help build a better community in the city of Seattle. It will no longer be bogged down by rising property rates or travelers residing in locations you wanted to stay for, say the next ten years. Airbnb is closely working with the government to listen, adapt and still better the traveling experience across the globe.
