STRs in Toledo Ohio - New Ordinance

[Rachael Coan]

CITY COUNCIL SET TO VOTE MAY 25, 2021! There has been no public input or opportunity for discussion. If you invest in Toledo, or even have considered doing so, please take a few minutes to express your concern to the city council TODAY. They are set to vote on it this Tuesday, May 25th (THAT'S TOMORROW!!!) There has been no public input or opportunity for discussion. CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW

If the applicant is a lessee, the application shall include the full legal name of the owner of the Short-Term Rental Unit, the mailing address, email address and telephone number of the owner and a signature of the owner acknowledging the owner’s understanding of the City of Toledo’s Short-Term Rental Unit rules and verifying the Owner’s agreement that they are legally responsible and liable for compliance by the Operator; APPLICATIONS FOR SHORT-TERM RENTAL UNIT PERMITS SHALL CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING: OPERATOR INFORMATION The full legal name, mailing address, email address and telephone number of the Operator, and in cases where a business entity or trust is the Operator, the individual who has responsibility to oversee the operation of the property including the mailing address, email address and telephone number of such individual; LESSEE INFORMATION If the applicant is a lessee, the application shall include the full legal name of the owner of the Short-Term Rental Unit, the mailing address, email address and telephone number of the owner and a signature of the owner acknowledging the owner’s understanding of the City of Toledo’s Short-Term Rental Unit rules and verifying the Owner’s agreement that they are legally responsible and liable for compliance by the Operator; Certificate of tax and public utility compliance or evidence of compliance with a payment plan; Evidence of compliance with any applicable rental registry requirements; Proof of general liability insurance in the amount of at least $1 million. Local Contact Person. An individual who shall be available twenty four (24) hours a day, seven days a week to respond as necessary, within 45 minutes of notification of a complaint regarding the condition, operation or conduct of occupants of the Short-Term Rental Unit and taking remedial action as necessary to resolve an such complaints. (outside of typical small biz hours!) All applications shall be accompanied by an Application Fee of $50.00. REQUIRED NOTICE Within 48 hours of submitting the application for a Short-Term Rental Unit Operating Permit to the Division of Taxation, theOperator shall send a Neighborhood Notice form supplied by the Division of Taxation, buy first-class mail or hand delivery to all property owners whose property is adjacent to the property at which the Short-Term Rental Unit is proposed as well as any existing neighborhood organization in that community. The Operators shall provide the Division of Taxation the names and addresses to which notices were sent. For the purposes of this section, adjacent properties are those that abut the proposed Short-Term Rental Unit, those directly across the street or alley from the proposed Short-Term Rental Unit, and those that are diagonal across the street or alley from the proposed Short-Term Rental Unit. MAXIMUM OCCUPANCY The number of overnight occupants permitted in a Short-Term Rental Unit shall not exceed two occupants per sleeping room plus two additional occupants. This maximum occupancy shall be identified in the Operating Permit. OPERATION WITHOUT A PERMIT Any Short-Term Rental Unit operating or advertising for operation without a valid Operating Permitshall be deemed to be a public safety hazard. The City may issue the Operator and/or owner apenalty of $100 per week up to a maximum of $500 for operating or advertising for operation without a permit. CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW HELP STOP (OR AT LEAST STALL) ENACTMENT! There are more of these egregious regulations! Again, these are a few of the more egregious regulations this ordinance will impose on short-term rental operations. We need your help to stop, or at least stall, the enactment of this as written. We need the chance to share our professional input with the city council so that a reasonable solution that works for all sides can be reached. Click through and take just a couple of minutes to share your voice. You'll be asked to create a unique subject line for your email. This will help more of our messages get opened. Below, we've provided some subject line ideas to get you started. You may use one of the suggested below or use it as a jumping off point to create your own. Remember, the more unique the subject line the more likely it will be opened. Lastly, don't be afraid to edit the email body AND INCLUDE YOUR PERSONAL STORY. SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLES: We need your help to reach a reasonable solution. Urging you to postpone the vote. Alternative Solutions....together. Help stop the UNDUE burden. Where's the emergency? What's the purpose of Engage Toledo? Help the AVERAGE short term operators. Do you notify you neighbors when you have someone stay in YOUR guest room? Help us provide affordable pricing for affected families. When are the discussions? How can I avoid discriminating against short term renters? How does having kids affect being able to rent? WE NEED TO TALK! Did you know many seniors could end up homeless? Don't we already have Landlord Registration? DON'T WAIT! THE VOTE IS TOMORROW.

[Andrew Fidler]

@Rachael Coan - I don't see anything really inflammatory in what the City of Toledo is requiring beyond normal, professional and responsible landlord liability stuff... a short term rental is offering housing to the public and provisions have to be in place to ensure the public is protected; especially from lessors who aren't local and aren't licensed property managers with experience and capabilities in the market they are serving.

• Certificate of tax and public utility compliance. Pay your taxes and ensure utilities are active and compliant. Shouldn't be an issue but I would presume there have been issues with the public renting properties where utilities aren't active and the public has been harmed.
• Evidence of compliance with any applicable rental registry requirements. Yup, Toledo has a rental registry; register! You can register online for free!
• Proof of general liability insurance in the amount of at least $1 million. Pretty standard. All of my personal properties have this limit and every client of our brokerage must have this amount of liability coverage for us to do business on their behalf... to rent to the public without liability insurance is insanity in my opinion. Don't wait until you have hurt the public before you have insurance. That's a sure way to bankruptcy so this should be an redundant request.
• Local Contact Person. An individual who shall be available twenty four (24) hours a day, seven days a week to respond as necessary, within 45 minutes of notification of a complaint regarding the condition, operation or conduct of occupants of the Short-Term Rental Unit and taking remedial action as necessary to resolve an such complaints. (outside of typical small biz hours!) Yup! If you are offering housing, you will need to have a local representative to handle emergencies. It should be even faster in a short-term rental because one night of lost use may be 50% of the client's time in your property. Be prepared. (Did I mention my brokerage offers this service already? I personally answer the phones some of the time to ensure our residents are supported in case of an emergency. It's the reason that LaPlante Real Estate doesn't service a 250 mile radius but 10 miles... we have to be able to respond when the phone rings and have boots on the ground when the sh*t truly hits the fan!)
• All applications shall be accompanied by an Application Fee of $50.00. I can't say I'm bothered by the fee. If I am familiar with anything about Toledo, this is the one you can get out of by being easy to work with and ask Toledo for a re-occurring delay. Make friends with city council and you can wipe this out... then again who really cares, pass along a $10 service fee to short term renters and focus on growing your business.

What I read into the City of Toledo mandate is that internet (non-local) sites have been renting properties to paying clients who travel long distances for their "short term rental" to find out the property has no utilities, no emergency contacts, no-one who really knows what is going on, and when someone gets hurt there isn't reasonable insurance in place to cover losses. Ultimately the owner get sued and truly hurt, and if they are slime-balls, they have been fraudulently listing properties that are condemned or they don't even own.

Trust me, if silliness can happen at any cost to the public, we have a segment of society who are only too willing to post false advertisement and lease irresponsibly. It's up to all of us to ensure that reasonable standards are upheld. Short term rentals are a business. Treat them like one, and be ready to be citizens of the market you are providing housing within.