Arizona Governor Signs Bill Putting Some Restrictions On Short-Term Rentals

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Arizona Re-Thinking Short-Term Rental Laws After Sedona Uproar

Putting some restrictions on short-term rentals, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed Arizona House Bill 2672 which prohibits homeowners from allowing properties to be used for special events and parties that create noise in neighborhoods.

However, some legislators feel the bill did not go far enough to protect neighborhoods.

The sponsor of HB 2672, Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said that the bill will put an end to “party houses” where a home in a residential neighborhood suddenly becomes the site for dozens and dozens of guests.

There were a number of failed attempts to amend the bill during the session to deal with the number of guests permitted in a house. However, the main part of the bill that made it through prohibits vacation rentals from being used for non-residential purposes, like special events, retail operations, restaurants or banquet space.

Short-term rentals bill does not go far enough

“What originally was sold as a way for empty-nesters and other owner-occupants to make extra money by renting a spare bedroom to a foreign tourist has become a multi-billion dollar industry that heavily caters to large groups and special events where entire homes are rented out and treated like bars and concert halls,” Rep. Isela Blanc, D-Tempe, told the Arizona Capitol Times.

Blanc said the bill doesn’t go far enough. She suggested that cities be permitted to limit these rentals to houses where the owner is the resident or the house is a second home.

“However, if you are just a capital investor coming in and changing the neighborhood completely by buying up as many homes as possible so you can continue to profit by calling yourself an Airbnb business, then you should be treated as a hotel,” Blanc told the Arizona Capitol Times.

Data from the Denver-based research firm AirDNA shows the Airbnb market has exploded in Arizona during the past five years, according to the Arizona Republic.

In late 2014, Phoenix only had 687 properties for rent listed on Airbnb, and only 245 of them were rented even one night in December of that year.

By March of this year, that number had boomed to 4,224 listed properties.