In Tahoe, fines for visitors is no vacation
South Lake Tahoe’s beefed-up vacation home rental law was supposed to help prevent noise violations, obnoxious partying and bad actors from disturbing the city’s residential neighborhoods.
Three months since the ordinance went into effect, however, the law has primarily turned into a tool for doling out $2,000 parking tickets against non-disorderly visitors who rent houses through sites such as Airbnb and Vacation Rentals by Owner, a Reno Gazette Journal investigation found.
South Lake Tahoe’s updated law added caps and steep fines in response to community concerns about the growth in tourists using residential homes for lodging.
A regular user of online listing sites such as Airbnb and VRBO, Shirin Oloumi-Knerr says she enjoys going on ski trips with her husband and three other couples.
While visiting in February, Oloumi-Knerr noticed something about the South Lake Tahoe house where they were staying.
The property was peppered with warning signs threatening steep fines for what she considers “harmless, arbitrary acts” such as parking on the street and hot tub use. In addition to paying a mini- mum $1,000 fine, Oloumi-Knerr says she was shocked to find out that property managers also get fined $1,000 by the city for renter violations, but the fine is typically passed on to guests.
This means vacation home renters essentially get fined twice to the tune of $2,000 total.
“I’m a government lawyer — rules and regulations are my bread and butter,” Oloumi-Knerr said. “(But) these rules seem to have no rhyme or reason and have the potential for abusive enforcement.”
South Lake Tahoe is just one of many cities playing catch up with their laws. After years of community debate, South Lake Tahoe approved its updated vacation home rental or VHR ordinance in November, with the law taking effect Dec. 22.
The response from the industry to South Lake Tahoe’s stricter ordinance has been mixed so far.
HomeAway and Airbnb, struck a conciliatory tone.
“We applaud South Lake Tahoe’s pursuit of common-sense vacation rental regulations,” said Eric Donovan, a spokesman for HomeAway.
Airbnb was more measured. “We are committed to promoting travel and tourism to South Lake Tahoe and to making sure that the local economy ... is able to prosper,” said spokeswoman Jasmine Mora.