Update on Denver's STR/Airbnb ordinance

Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions
8yFollow

Update on Denver's STR/Airbnb ordinance

James Carlson
Real Estate Agent · Colorado | stan.store/JamesCarlson · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes

Hey Colorado Airbnb and VRBO enthusiasts!

I went to Denver's Short-Term Rental Advisory Committee meeting and thought I'd share this update on the Airbnb ordinance, enforcement efforts, and -- maybe most importantly -- the stirrings of some efforts to further restrict short-term rentals in Denver in the future. 

**A quick reminder that the key to Denver's Airbnb law is that you can only operate a short-term rental in your primary residence.

Big picture: The primary residency provision is generating a lot of complaints to the city. (As always, we point those interested in Airbnb and short-term rental investment properties to Colorado Springs. While the Springs is proposing an Airbnb ordinance, it is much more favorable to investors.)

Enforcement #s from Jan. 1-July 31, 2018

  • 53 reports completed by Denver's excise and license division, all related to questions of someone's primary residence status
    • 47 provided necessary documents to prove primary residency
    • 6 cases referred to City Attorney's office
  • 112 complaints of non-primary residency
  • 70 open STR investigations

New requirements for new and renewing licenses

  • Unlike before, you now have to prove your primary residence by providing at least two of the following documents: vehicle registration, driver's license, voter registration, tax documents or utility bill

Future options the committee is considering

** Note: any changes to the ordinance would have to go through the Denver city council process and therefore is months if not a year off. The below ideas are just being floated right now. Nothing is actually moving forward yet.

  • Limit the number of days per month or year that you can rent your entire residence
  • Require that a license holder reside in the primary residence XX number of days. (Currently, there is no minimum number of days you have to live there for it to be considered your primary residence.)
  • Require evidence of neighbor support or at least proof of notification of neighbors. (Yikes!)

Thoughts????

4Reply
33 views

Most Popular Reply

Alex M.
New York, NY · Member since 2017 · 144 posts · 75 votes
8y

I operate in NYC and we have very strict rules so I've had to be pretty savvy about getting around the rules and always looking for the loopholes:

New requirements for new and renewing licenses

  • Unlike before, you now have to prove your primary residence by providing at least two of the following documents: vehicle registration, driver's license, voter registration, tax documents or utility bill

** Whats the problem here? Your utility bill will have your name on it anyway? What's to say that it has to be the place where you spend most your time? And then buy a vehicle, register it, send in the papers and then sell it.  Or if it's easier, get a license in CO, and then after registering switch it to whatever state you actually live in.  Takes a little maneuvering but if you're making 10's of K's of $'s per year per place, who cares? **

Future options the committee is considering

** Note: any changes to the ordinance would have to go through the Denver city council process and therefore is months if not a year off. The below ideas are just being floated right now. Nothing is actually moving forward yet.

  • Limit the number of days per month or year that you can rent your entire residence
    • They did this in Boston.  Would love to hear how people are getting around it.  We dont have this in NYC (because its strictly illegal to do anything <30 days), but I have to create a new account for each property.  I am going to start getting burner phones so each account has its own phone number.  Fake names, addresses, and separate emails.  What's to stop people from just creating a new account once the first account hits its maximum?  You can use a photo editor to change the pics slightly (I do this too) and not be detected by any image recognition algo AirBNB may use.
  • Require that a license holder reside in the primary residence XX number of days. (Currently, there is no minimum number of days you have to live there for it to be considered your primary residence.)
    • How is this enforced?  Are they going to do a Residency Audit?  That gets expensive.  So you open up a new bank account in CO, and give someone you know in Colorodo ATM authorization to use your debit card and put a prepaid amount on there for them to buy groceries each month as a tip for doing you the service.  Now you have a paper trail that you're "living" there.
  • Require evidence of neighbor support or at least proof of notification of neighbors. (Yikes!)
    • OK so you pay your neighbor off.  I pay off Supers in my buildings all the time.  It's just a little greasing of the palms and as long as there's no harm and no disturbance, everything is smooth.  It's good old American business!

The way I see it, unless they start tracing your IP address to your computer's location and triangulating that way, OR AirBNB starts forcing you to provide a unique identifier like a SS# to open a new account and then somehow verifying it (You can still have friends and family have accounts this way) and using a blend of strategies to make sure you aren't gaming the system, it will be very hard for them to enforce this for those who are motivated to get around it... My 2 cents.

2Reply
See this reply in the discussion

7 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Jeff WhiteBusiness Member
    Realtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 278 posts · 371 votes
    8y

    James, thanks for being the go to guy for Airbnb in Colorado! 

    Yikes, the new requirements aren't that big of deal, but if they pursue those further options, that would definitely make it more difficult for people that want to do live in house hack with Airbnb to cover the mortgage.    

    I don't have any issues with the primary residence rule with its intent behind the law, but it would definitely suck if they put any of those other options.  I get why some neighbors don't like it since brings in tourists, but tourists aren't the problem, if anything, they are helping the Denver economy overall and in turn helping the neighbors property values long-term.  

    I wonder if there is a study with Airbnb and residential crime statistics?  Before and after snapshot?  I can't imagine neighborhoods are at risk with someone Airbnbing their house or apartment or basement.  From my experience with Airbnb, most guests that I have booked my place are usually here for a show at Red Rocks, hang with friends, downtown drinks/dinner, mountain trip, etc.  Most of them book aren't visiting for disingenuous intentions to steal from the neighbors, Airbnb host, and such. 

    I guess we will see what the City Council decides in the future.   

    1Reply
  • Alex M.
    New York, NY · Member since 2017 · 144 posts · 75 votes
    8y

    I operate in NYC and we have very strict rules so I've had to be pretty savvy about getting around the rules and always looking for the loopholes:

    New requirements for new and renewing licenses

    • Unlike before, you now have to prove your primary residence by providing at least two of the following documents: vehicle registration, driver's license, voter registration, tax documents or utility bill

    ** Whats the problem here? Your utility bill will have your name on it anyway? What's to say that it has to be the place where you spend most your time? And then buy a vehicle, register it, send in the papers and then sell it.  Or if it's easier, get a license in CO, and then after registering switch it to whatever state you actually live in.  Takes a little maneuvering but if you're making 10's of K's of $'s per year per place, who cares? **

    Future options the committee is considering

    ** Note: any changes to the ordinance would have to go through the Denver city council process and therefore is months if not a year off. The below ideas are just being floated right now. Nothing is actually moving forward yet.

    • Limit the number of days per month or year that you can rent your entire residence
      • They did this in Boston.  Would love to hear how people are getting around it.  We dont have this in NYC (because its strictly illegal to do anything <30 days), but I have to create a new account for each property.  I am going to start getting burner phones so each account has its own phone number.  Fake names, addresses, and separate emails.  What's to stop people from just creating a new account once the first account hits its maximum?  You can use a photo editor to change the pics slightly (I do this too) and not be detected by any image recognition algo AirBNB may use.
    • Require that a license holder reside in the primary residence XX number of days. (Currently, there is no minimum number of days you have to live there for it to be considered your primary residence.)
      • How is this enforced?  Are they going to do a Residency Audit?  That gets expensive.  So you open up a new bank account in CO, and give someone you know in Colorodo ATM authorization to use your debit card and put a prepaid amount on there for them to buy groceries each month as a tip for doing you the service.  Now you have a paper trail that you're "living" there.
    • Require evidence of neighbor support or at least proof of notification of neighbors. (Yikes!)
      • OK so you pay your neighbor off.  I pay off Supers in my buildings all the time.  It's just a little greasing of the palms and as long as there's no harm and no disturbance, everything is smooth.  It's good old American business!

    The way I see it, unless they start tracing your IP address to your computer's location and triangulating that way, OR AirBNB starts forcing you to provide a unique identifier like a SS# to open a new account and then somehow verifying it (You can still have friends and family have accounts this way) and using a blend of strategies to make sure you aren't gaming the system, it will be very hard for them to enforce this for those who are motivated to get around it... My 2 cents.

    2Reply
  • Valerie Rogers
    Property Manager · Aurora, CO · Member since 2014 · 221 posts · 210 votes
    8y

    @Alex M. I am surprised you are openly offering "advice" on how one can circumvent the laws and regulations of a city authority to get around proposed restrictions. The actions you described in "Getting around the rules" and "finding loopholes" could be prosecutable at most and are  unethical at least. Hosts that would do such things are part of the problem cities are facing and complicate the matter. 

    Personally as a traveler I would not want to stay in a property that is not operating within the restrictions set by the governing authority.

    1Reply
  • Alex M.
    New York, NY · Member since 2017 · 144 posts · 75 votes
    8y

    @Valerie Rogers

    Now let me ask you:

    -What about the hotel lobby which is paying politicians hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to protect their interests?  Is this not unethical?  

    -What about the KBG tactics employed by law enforcement to infringe on privacy and harass people at their homes?

    -Is the world not better with AirBNB allowing people to travel and have a better experience with their families? Is it not better with Uber?  Uber went through the same issue.  It takes disruptors and vicious battles to break the entrenched interests and status quo.  

    If they want to restrict my rights as a property owner, they will do so, but I will always find a way to exercise my rights and go to court fighting it.  I feel that strongly about it.

    1Reply
  • Valerie Rogers
    Property Manager · Aurora, CO · Member since 2014 · 221 posts · 210 votes
    8y

    @Alex M.

    -What about the hotel lobby which is paying politicians hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to protect their interests? Is this not unethical?  

    It is business; you can't blame a business for doing what is necessary to protect their investment. You may say that is what your original post is about, but at least the hotel lobby isn't operating in an underhanded, outside-of-the-rules method. 

    -What about the KBG tactics employed by law enforcement to infringe on privacy and harass people at their homes?

    I don't really know how this relates to STRs. Are you saying that law enforcement is infringing on privacy and harassing people in their own homes by responding to noise or nuisance calls? That seems pretty far-fetched. 

    -Is the world not better with AirBNB allowing people to travel and have a better experience with their families? 

    I can agree with you on this. I just don't agree with your suggestion that people use subterfuge and dishonesty to circumvent the rules. If you don't like the rules then get involved in the process to try to change them, don't just ignore them.

    If they want to restrict my rights as a property owner, they will do so, but I will always find a way to exercise my rights and go to court fighting it. I feel that strongly about it.

    That's a great idea...spend your time and effort on that, not on all of the other things you suggested. 

    1Reply
  • Alex M.
    New York, NY · Member since 2017 · 144 posts · 75 votes
    8y

    @Valerie Rogers I vehemently disagree with you on the basic liberties that go along with property ownership.  So we can leave it at that.

    1Reply
  • James Carlson
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Colorado | stan.store/JamesCarlson · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    8y

    @Alex M. said. Not necessarily because I agree with the rules, but because the headaches caused by not complying are more than I want to deal with. To the on-the-ground practice of what you're talking about, that's all well and good, but what it really comes down to is the neighbors. If the neighbors push the issue with the city, the city attorney will file a complaint and set a court date at which you have to show up and testify. 

    That said, there are now just over 4,000 short-term rentals in Denver, and there have been only 6 cases this year that have actually been pushed to the city attorney's office, so the likelihood of anything ever happening appear to be slim.  

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free