Short-term rental fees, fines to increase in Annapolis
Operating a short-term rental unit, like an Airbnb, in Annapolis will likely be more expensive starting in July due to amendments passed by the City Council.
The Annapolis City Council passed two amendments Monday to the city’s fee and fine schedules that would make annual short-term rental licenses and fines for operating unlicensed units more expensive. The fee and fine schedules, along with the rest of the city budget, are scheduled to be passed next Monday.
The cost for operating a non-owner-occupied short-term rental would be $750, and owner-occupied short-term rentals would be $650 per year. Currently, short-term rental licenses for both are $400 each year.
Ward 2 Alderwoman Karma O’Neill, a Democrat on the Finance Committee, said the change was made because the cost of operating the short-term rental license program is now about $700 per rental. The different prices based on owner-occupied status, she said, will help encourage owner-occupied rentals instead of investor-occupied properties
“My preference moving forward would be to have more owner-occupied short-term rentals,” O’Neill said. “They fit better into the fabric of our communities, where the off-site owners … are not participating in the community, and they’re only renting their house out for their greater good, not really great or good at the community.”
The fine for operating a short-term rental without a required city license would increase from $200 to $1,000 per daily violation.
“What we’re trying to do is make it so that it is not profitable to run a short-term rental unlicensed,” said Finance Committee Chair Alderman Harry Huntley, a Ward 1 Democrat.
Huntley originally proposed a fine equal to double the highest advertised nightly rate of the property. That fine was changed to a flat $1,000 after staff and council concerns that the price would be difficult to calculate and support in court.
Only 50.5% of advertised short-term rentals in Annapolis were licensed, as of an August Department of Planning and Zoning report.
The City Council has pushed against short-term rentals, including unlicensed units, in recent months. The current council, sworn in on Dec. 1, passed a yearlong moratorium on new non-owner occupied short term rentals in March. The moratorium was implemented to give city staff time to examine the prevalence of the rentals and what steps, if any, the city should take to address the properties.
In October, the last council passed a bill issuing a 10% cap on the percentage of housing units on one side of a city block that can be short-term rentals. The city will host a short-term rental license lottery next year so all blocks over the cap fall into compliance.
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