BOISE, Idaho — There is a crucial change coming for people operating a short-term rental in the City of Boise in May.
“As of May 1st, short-term rental operators will be required to have a license,” said Nicki Hellenkamp, the Mayor's Housing Advisor for the City of Boise.
Hellenkamp said the recently passed ordinance addresses feedback from Boise residents that operations like AirBnB’s or VRBO rentals should be licensed in Boise. She says they’ve made it simple for operators to apply and get licensed.
“Very easy to get one. You can just go online and fill out just some basic information about the property and your contact information, and then you'll be licensed,” Hellenkamp said.
The cost for a license is $80 a year per property, which covers administrative costs. The city is trying to bridge short-term rental concerns from the community while creating accountability for operators who rent out for short spans of time.
“Many short-term rental operators here in our community are folks who care very much about the neighborhoods that their homes are in. They want the homes that they operate to be assets to their community. And they're also commercial businesses that are operating in residential neighborhoods. So sometimes there are impacts on neighbors,” Hellenkamp said.
Things like noise, trash, liability, and parking are major concerns for some neighbors in Boise. The new ordinance creates standards that operators need to meet. Like, requiring liability insurance, maintaining trash services, and having a local contact available to address issues. Some have voiced complaints, for example, that operations don’t have someone local to answer to legitimate concerns, like noisy guests and garbage flowing into the street.
“If it's a different set of guests every weekend, you can't necessarily address the problem with your rotating cast of characters here. So just having the contact information where they'd be able to contact the city and say, 'Can you help us get in touch with this owner.' Make them aware of the other issue that we're having so that we can just get it addressed is one of the components,” Hellenkamp said.
The new code also requires safety equipment in rentals like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers.
The city is working to get short-term rentals ready for the changes that go into effect on May 1st, after that day there will be enforcement of the new code.
“Our Code Compliance Office is always just trying to bring people into compliance. Usually, it's just an education issue of, 'oh my gosh, I had no idea I even had to do this.' And folks are usually pretty appreciative of the information and are willing to just, you know, sign up. Like I said, it's really easy and can just be done online,” Hellenkamp said.
The new licensing requirement will also help give better data on how many short-term rentals are operating in the Boise area, and what that impact is.
“Kind of comes down to the question of, well, how many are listed elsewhere? How many are we talking about that are maybe not going to be captured on your big platforms and how can we capture the information about the entire market,” Hellenkamp said.
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