The Post editorial: Denver has made substantial progress in new short-term rental regulations.»

The city of Denver has made substantial progress in its effort to bring 1,672 previously unregulated short-term rentals posted on sites like VRBO and Airbnb out of the shadows and into the light of taxation.

Imposing regulations and taxes on short-term rentals last year was the right thing to do, creating more fairness in the hotel industry, requiring minimum safety standards, and generating nearly $1.1 million in revenue in the first eight months of 2017.

Those statistics come from a report released last month by Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien. The audit found flaws in how the city is tracking and enforcing the new short-term rental regulations. While we hope those flaws are remedied quickly, we are encouraged by the compliance rates with the new law.

The Denver Post’s Jesse Paul reported that as of December, Denver had a short-term rental registration rate better than 70 percent, which exceeds the rates in other cities that have started regulating the sub-industry.

The audit estimated, however, that as of the end of August, the licenses issued accounted for only about 63 percent of the short-term rentals being offered through online services like VRBO and Airbnb.

It’s up to the Department of Excise and Licensing to go after the remaining 37 percent of rentals being advertised that are out of compliance with the law. Notices of violation are sent to the owners that they have 14 days to obtain a license or otherwise remedy the complaint, after that an administrative citation is issued assessing a $150 fine.

The audit noted that of 1,614 violations issued, 345 were unresolved at the time of the audit; and of 34 citations with fines issued, 22 were unresolved, resulting in $4,550 in unpaid fines. We’d hope to see the better results than that, and expect the city to enforce the law more strictly.

While the program is just getting started, and has fairly strong early results, we think there should be an emphasis placed on enforcement to ensure those still operating outside the law know they are violating the rules and are brought into compliance. Those who refuse to get on board with the new rules must face penalties.

Part of the problem may be that the licenses are not available for any property that is not a primary residence. It’d be helpful to see data on how many of those unregistered properties are second homes being rented when not in use as an income generator.

In 2016, we encouraged the Denver City Council to consider including a provision that would allow one license per household, rather than an outright prohibition of renting second homes. However, we were sympathetic to concerns about absentee landlords cropping up in certain areas and doing damage to the longterm rental market taking units out of the inventory. We agree with the audit, which recommended the city collect and analyze data to see whether neighborhoods are being inundated with unruly tourists or affordable housing is disappearing in favor of serving frugal travelers.

For example, of 1,100 calls to Denver’s 311 Help Center that involved short-term rentals, 70 percent involved complaints or reported violations, the audit noted. Given the newness of this program, it’s critical that the law be enforced with fidelity and that any problems be tracked.

However, given the high-compliance rate compared to other cities, it seems likely the city has hit the sweet spot of reasonable regulation that is easy to comply with and not heavy-handed. The members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are William Dean Singleton, chairman; Mac Tully, CEO and publisher; Chuck Plunkett, editor of the editorial pages; Megan Schrader, editorial writer; and Cohen Peart, opinion editor.