Oklahoma City has some new rules for short-term rental hosts like Airbnb and VRBO.
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved changes to two laws that further regulate how landlords can operate their short-term rentals and how new rental applications are approved.
In addition to previously proposed changes, such as stricter occupancy limits in hopes of cracking down on so-called “party pads,” the council approved new additions to the laws, including allowing the city’s Board of Adjustment to pass restrictive covenants of the homeowners association to consider against short circuits. term rentals when approving rental properties that are not the host’s primary residence and eliminating a two-night minimum stay proposal.
An Airbnb is pictured in northwest Oklahoma City.
Made changes to OKC’s short-term rental rules
Here are some of the changes likely to have the biggest impact on homesharing in Oklahoma City:
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Setting a maximum occupancy limit based on the number of bedrooms, with the aim of preventing guests from inviting more than large groups of people for late-night parties. Between 11:00 PM and 6:00 AM, the limit is the number of bedrooms multiplied by two, plus two additional residents. And at any time there is a maximum occupancy of 16 people, regardless of the number of bedrooms.
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If accommodations are “home shared” for more than 10 nights in a calendar month, the host must request a special exception from the Board of Adjustment.
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In historic preservation districts, the home share must be on the same lot as the host’s principal residence and the host’s principal residence must be occupied by the host at the same time as the rental.
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A limit will be placed on the number of special exceptions for short-term rentals, which may not exceed 10% of the units within a given block.
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Establishing a parking requirement of one parking space for every four occupants.
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Allowing the city’s Board of Adjustment to consider homeowners’ association restrictive covenants against short-term rentals when approving rental properties that are not the host’s primary residence.
What residents thought of the new regulations for home sharing
Nick Tran, a landlord and short-term property owner, said at Tuesday’s meeting that he would like to see improvements in the approval process. Tran said he was approved for special exception ownership in June and has not received his business license as of December.
Tran added that he feels the requirement for a special exception to rent out a property for more than ten nights per calendar month is burdensome, especially for those who rent out rooms in their homes while living there.
“I don’t think this is a good change,” Tran said. “I think it will affect a lot of hosts. Like me, I just traveled to Vietnam for a month and I wouldn’t be able to rent out my house on Airbnb during that time because I can only do a maximum of 10 days.”
The ability to rent out the home share for more than 10 days per calendar month, like other special exception permits for short-term rentals, would need to be approved by the city’s Board of Adjustment.
Gary Jones, director of government affairs for the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of Realtors, said his organization’s members “feel very good about this ordinance.” However, he said the one thing not being addressed that he would like to see addressed is how the city will enforce the new regulations.
“If you don’t come up with a real enforcement mechanism, we really haven’t done the work,” Jones said. “And our members wanted to make sure that they said very loudly and clearly that they are committed to enforcement, and even if it means increasing the application fee to help subsidize the cost of that, that they believe it is necessary.”
City management is working with the new Office of Innovation to post requests for consultant support to address the following issues:
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Identification of unlicensed housing shares.
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Assist with outreach, including short-term rental licenses that are about to expire or have recently expired.
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Assist in monitoring hotel tax obligations.
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Creating documentation of license violations.
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Providing a 24-hour complaints platform.
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Coordinate with the City’s licensing and code enforcement database.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Airbnb, VRBO rules changing in Oklahoma City: What you need to know
