Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Clark County moving forward on rental lottery despite homeowners’ resistance

Clark County is continuing to move forward on its short-term rental lottery plans despite continued protests and a District Court ruling of illegalities in the ordinance governing it. 

At their Tuesday meeting, the county’s Department of Business License gave a presentation on the lottery system that will be used to determine which applicants will be awarded short-term rental licenses. 

But local property owners are not happy with the county’s decision to move forward with its short-term rental ordinance amid concerns over unconstitutional regulations in the ruling. 

“It’s disheartening because we tried to warn the county about the illegalities of this law, this ordinance,” Johnny Dortch, a short-term rental owner said at the meeting. “We’re going to go to the Nevada Supreme Court, and you guys will lose there as well.”

Vincent Queano, the department’s director, said applications for a short-term rental license were accepted by the business license department from Sept. 13, 2022, through next Monday. This lottery system will provide a “verifiable, secure and transparent process” in choosing licensees. 

A limited number of property owners who applied will be granted these short-term rental licenses according to an ordinance county commissioners approved last summer. The ordinance introduced a set of countywide regulations that all short-term rental owners must follow alongside the general rules of the applications they list their properties through. 

One of these county rules would require rental owners to pay an annual licensing fee of either $750 or $1,500, depending on the number of rooms in the unit. 

But Clark County District Court Judge Jessica Peterson filed an injunction in February that ruled portions of the county’s ordinance regulating these short-term rental properties as unconstitutional.

In a 20-page document, Peterson called several rules in the ordinance “facially unconstitutionally vague and/or overbroad,” with criticisms that there were “No standards to ensure fair and equal treatment” under certain areas, like fines and penalties for ordinance violators. 

“The Court specifically finds that certain provisions within the Ordinance are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and fail to provide notice sufficient to enable a person of ordinary intelligence to understand what conduct is prohibited,” Peterson wrote. 

Some of these include inspecting premises without any notice or cause, requiring the license application be signed under penalty of perjury, imposing “discretionary fines and penalties.” 

The Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association, which represents vacation rental owners across Southern Nevada, sued the county last year when the ordinance was originally passed. 

Jacqueline Flores, founder of the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association, said that the issue is not with the fact that the county wants to regulate short-term rentals, but with how they’re going about it. 

County officials said there are an estimated 10,000 illegal short-term rental properties in Clark County listed on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, which are a popular way for travelers to rent rooms, apartments or even entire houses for their stays. 

The practice of using personal homes for commercial lodging was legalized by the state in 2021 and reversed a ban on these rentals in unincorporated Clark County. Short-term rentals are currently allowed in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. 

“I know everybody likes to paint short-term rentals as big investors (and) big corporations, but the fact is that it’s people like these: senior citizens, veterans, people that are disabled, people that are trying to make ends meet,” Flores said at the meeting. 

While the county plans on moving ahead with the livestreamed random drawing March 29, short-term rental advocates urged the commissioners to pause their application process for more discussion. 

Flores, Dortch and other short-term rental advocates said they’re now “fired up” and want to work with the county to ensure the ordinance is fair to all short-term rental owners. 

“We have been telling you guys from the very beginning we have concerns with your ordinance, and now, we are happy that the judge sided with us,” Flores said. “So, we are hoping that now you are able to understand what we’re talking about, and now, you’re able to come to the table to work with us.”