Central Ohio cities consider regulating short-term home rentals
When they’re vacationing, Stephanie Morrison and Nick Vallera of Upper Arlington prefer to live among the locals.
The 28-year-olds learned about vacation-rental websites, such as Airbnb, while planning their honeymoon. The popular arrangements let travelers learn about a city’s culture and neighborhoods, often with help from a local host, at an affordable price, Morrison said.
But currently, a tourist can’t do the same in the couple’s community.
Upper Arlington has temporarily banned short-term rentals for a year as officials determine how to regulate the new, rapidly growing industry. Frustrated with a rental home they say has become a nuisance in their neighborhood, Westerville residents are urging elected officials to do the same.
Columbus officials have been discussing proposed regulations with those concerned for months. Their public conversations are now spilling over into other communities throughout central Ohio.
Westerville City Manager Dave Collinsworth said officials are watching Columbus’ process closely. He expects legislation to be introduced in the fall.
Crafting such a law requires diligence, because it must “balance property rights with the right and need of a community to protect and preserve the public peace, health, safety and welfare,” Collinsworth said.
There currently are no statewide regulations of the short-term rental industry in Ohio, meaning that communities must approve their own. Worthington, for example, has banned “tourist homes” since 1987 through its zoning codes, city spokeswoman Anne Brown said.
In Columbus, proposed regulations would cap the number of days that hosts can rent their home — 104 days a year, or every weekend — if they don’t permanently live in it. They also would require hosts to obtain yearly permits, pay excise taxes and provide 24-hour emergency contact information.
Like hotels or motels, hosts also could be denied short-term rental permits due to issues such as criminal history or violence on their property.
Some cities have regulated other characteristics, such as the number of properties that hosts can rent in a particular area or how many beds they can offer.
When a city doesn’t have short-term rental laws, residents say they’re left with few options to address conflicts in their neighborhoods.
Paul Lehman says that short-term renting essentially has converted a four-bedroom house on his sleepy Westerville cul-de-sac into a party hall, which has disrupted neighbors with traffic, loud parties, fights and litter.
“It’s collateral damage, and we’re all suffering because of their mismanaged Airbnb,” Lehman, 70, said.
Police were called to noisy parties at the home in the 300 block of Meadcrest Court twice, on Oct. 8, 2017, and April 14 of this year, according to Westerville police reports. In April, a person called police at 5:20 a.m. from a party, saying that someone had a gun and people were arguing outside.
James Smith, 56, who owns the home with Loretta Baldwin, 48, said in an email that the complaints regarding the firearm were manufactured by a neighbor. He also said the complaints to police occurred because he rented to African-American guests. One guest at the April party filed a police report, alleging that a neighbor recorded video of her that night and sent false accusations to her employer.
Collinsworth said the city has issued a zoning violation to the property owners for operating a boarding, rooming or lodging house, which the owners appealed. The owners have agreed to cease rentals for six months as both parties discuss possible compromises, he said.
Airbnb spokesman Benjamin Breit confirmed that the property is no longer listed on its website.
“We have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior, and as such, this home is no longer on our platform,” Breit said in a written statement. “We remain actively engaged with Columbus and its surrounding suburbs toward rules that help protect the economic impact of home-sharing and quality of life.”
Westerville has about 30 short-term rental homes, Breit said.
When considering legislation, it’s important to avoid a knee-jerk reaction, said Zach James, head of the Columbus Hosts Alliance, a group representing the interests of short-term rental hosts in the area.
Many issues can be resolved through education, communication and responsible hosting practices, such as prohibiting parties in quiet neighborhoods and installing noise-level monitors, he said.
“You can’t legislate for one or two bad actors,” James said. “Public policy needs to be built around what makes sense for the largest group of people and for the foreseeable future.”
The Columbus-based Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association has been advocating for state-level regulation of the industry to address safety concerns, lodging taxes and large buildings being converted into “illegal hotels,” Executive Director Joe Savarise said.
It hasn’t happened yet.
But local oversight also is important because what works for a large city, such as Columbus, might not work for smaller, suburban communities, he said.
“Having some sort of fair oversight that isn’t overly burdensome can ensure these businesses can operate in a way that’s good for the people running them, their community and their neighbors,” Savarise said.