Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

County approves fee, tax on short-term rental properties

Short-term rental property owners in unincorporated Clark County will be required to follow a series of new regulations, including paying a $300 licensing fee and lodging tax of 12.5 to 13.5% on each rental.

The Clark County Commission on Tuesday approved the standards, which dictate each rental can accommodate no more than 10 people and properties must be 2,500 feet away from a resort. Additionally, owners can only be licensed for one property.

The ordinance was prompted by the Nevada Legislature, who is 2021 mandated the county allow short-term rentals on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo to exist.

The county will begin accepting applications in September, according to officials. After six month period, all approved applications will be put into a random number generator to assign licenses. Only 1% of the properties in the county can be licensed.

There is an estimated 10,000 illegal short-term rental properties in the county. Those unlicensed will be fined $1,000-$10,000 depending upon “the severity of the violation, whether the person who committed the violation acted in good faith, and any history of previous violations” related to short-term housing, according to the ordinance.

All other violations, such as a party house with too many occupants, will incur a fine of $500-$1,000. For any property that is reported for violating any part of the ordinance, listing applications — like Airbnb — will have five days to take down the property’s site listing.

Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick believes the ordinance “is about preserving the neighborhoods,” but many property owners who would be affected by stricter regulations voiced their concerns at the meeting.

Hernaldo Diaz told commissioners his mother worked in the casino industry for 12 years before being injured in 2018, which left her with no job or income during the COVID-19 pandemic Although Diaz was sending her money, his mother began renting a portion of her house to assist in paying her mortgage. “A lot of the people doing Airbnb are not big corporations, they’re just normal families just trying to make some extra money,” Diaz said. “I just feel like it’s unfair that people like my mom are going to get pushed out of the market because of the regulations [the board of commissioners] pass.”

Resident, Shirl Woods, who is “semi-retired” and has spent three years as a short-term rental owner, said “the people who come to short-term rentals don’t necessarily come to casinos” and are “completely different” from what some might assume about short-term renters.

Even former hosts and renters — not owners — of short-term units appeared to show their support.

In an emotional plea to the board, Henderson resident Jennifer Pierce described the way short-term rentals could help her family, which has been displaced due to a leak in their house. They have been moving between hotels every three weeks, and many of the legal properties in the area are fully booked.

“If you know better, you do better,” Pierce said. “License every single one that is out there, give them the opportunity for their families, for this community, and for Las Vegas.”

In a response from Airbnb's Head of U.S. West Public Policy, John Choi in a statement wrote that Airbnb hosts "have offered to work with the Clark County commissioners" and that the new rules "are stricter than what is required by state law and will take money out of the pockets of Nevada residents and the local tourism economy."

Even with pushback, commissioners stressed their willingness to work with people on all sides of this issue and possibly consider loosening some of the restrictions in the future.

“Some of the things that [people] object to are not under our control, some of the things [people] object to are definitely under our control,” Commissioner Jim Gibson said. “I think that the most important thing that we can say is that we’re making an effort to both comply with the statute and to respond to what we’re hearing in the community.”