Short-term-rental laws should be enforced by city

We’re impressed Denver officials are using the sharp teeth of enforcement to crack down on those who are violating the city’s aggressive short-term-rental policy. Don’t want to face felony charges for your Airbnb or VRBO rental in Denver? Simply make sure the house or room for rent is your primary residence and don’t lie to public officials. If you don’t call the place home, rent it for 30 days or more.

It’s a hard concept for those who can make more money listing their rental properties as a shortterm vacation rental online than they can by signing up renters for month-to-month (or longer) leases. But the city’s rules prohibit the practice, and for good reason: Short-term rentals have a disparate impact on neighborhoods, whether they are single-family neighborhoods or dense urban communities where building dwellers share secure entrances and other facilities.

That was the impetus behind a 2014 task force that studied the issue and recommended only allowing short-term rentals when the house, apartment or condo is the owner’s primary residence. We were disappointed to learn in a 2018 city of Denver audit that enforcement of the rules stemming from that task force was lax, and we are impressed the city has turned things around. At least four individuals have been charged with felony violations in conjunction with efforts to

skirt the city’s law.

Some argue that Denver officials are trying to protect the hotel industry. Perhaps, but what we care about is the reality that no one who buys a condo in a downtown building expects the surrounding units to be filled with a different stranger every week. Residents in Five Points shouldn’t be surrounded by small-scale hospitality businesses owned by far-away folks.

Now, there is a way that those adversely impacted by the law could respond — you know, a more productive way than falsifying documents and lying on affidavits. They could mount a campaign to amend the law.

For example, at one time this board advocated that the law should allow an individual to have one short-term rental in their name that is not their primary residence. Sure, it would be pushed to the limit — a husband and wife could each have a shortterm rental, and then also rent out their home, but it’d still put serious brakes on the fear of VRBO and Airbnb’s taking over buildings and neighborhoods.

Such a compromise still makes sense, we think, although we support the strong regulation of short-term rentals in this city. It’s true Denver is more restrictive than other cities when it comes to short-term rentals, but we think they are ahead of the curve. Property use regulation is one important job of city ordinances; anyone who says otherwise is not being intellectually honest.