AURORA | After more than a year of debate, Aurora city council Monday night appeared to square away the city’s official stance on how it will handle vacation rentals by owner through websites like Airbnb.
At the regular Dec. 5 meeting, city council voted 8-2 to approve an ordinance requiring homeowners interested in renting out their properties to include a business license number in their individual listing, proving they’ve complied with the new city law.
Council members Charlier Richardson, of Ward IV, and Renie Peterson, of Ward II, were the dissenters in the final vote.
“The government loves to regulate things just for the sake of regulating them, and in this case, we make as much off the business license and the tax as it costs to pay for the city staff to administer the regulation,” Richardson said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Earlier this year, city staff clarified that all vacation rental hosts with an Aurora address must apply for a $38 business license and collect an 8-percent lodger’s tax from guests. Trevor Vaughn, manager for the city’s tax and licensing department, previously estimated the city could annually earn between $6,000 and $30,000 a year from the new lodger’s tax payments.
Vaughn said the city has not been able to reach an agreement with Airbnb regarding the remittance of the now-required lodger’s tax upon booking accommodations in Aurora.
A controversial stipulation of the city’s ongoing vacation rentals by owner saga, requiring homeowners taking boarders to occupy at least 75 percent of their residence and not rent more than 25 percent of it, was nixed at a council study session earlier this fall, according to Vaughn.
He estimated that there are currently about 180 listings for Aurora properties on Airbnb. He did not know, specifically, how many of those hosts have applied for business licenses.
Vaughn said that enforcement of the new rules has previously occurred on a complaint-only basis. He said he did not know of any hosts who have been caught violating the new Airbnb rules. Violations could result in a municipal summons, Vaughn said.
Aurora officials have said the vacation rental rules do not apply to rentals longer than 30 days. Those rentals are only required to be reported on a landlord’s tax returns.
Vaughn added that an individual Homeowner’s Association could bar a potential host from renting out their home using internet services.
“They need to check with their HOA,” he said.
The new ordinance requiring hosts to list the number of their business license will go into effect early next month.