Bill Description: House Bill 583 would limit local regulations on short-term rentals. It would also require property owners who offer short-term rentals privately to pay a variety of business taxes.
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Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?
House Bill 583 would amend Section 67-6539, Idaho Code, which limits the regulations counties and cities can place on short-term rentals.
The bill would remove broad and ambiguous language that local governments have used to bypass the spirit of the law and generally require (with some exceptions) that local governments only impose “reasonable regulations” that are “necessary to safeguard the public health and safety.” Such regulations must “not impose different restrictions or obligations on short-term rentals than are imposed on single-family dwellings or similar structures not used as short-term rentals.”
The bill also calls out specific regulations local governments may not impose.
There are some exceptions for allowable local regulations including requiring smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, removable escape ladders, and “an easily accessible informational handout be available to tenants describing the location of exits, the location of fire extinguishers, the location of any supplied first aid kits, and a phone number to contact the owner or manager of the short-term rental in the case of an emergency.”
Local governments may also require that “maximum occupancy limits for short-term rentals do not exceed those non-transient residential limits as contained in the international building codes as adopted by the Idaho building code board.”
The bill would also clarify that “all short-term rental properties along with their owners and tenants shall be subject to all other county and city ordinances and penalties that apply to other non-short-term rental residential uses, including but not limited to noise, parking, nuisance, curfew, and traffic regulations.”
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Does it directly or indirectly create or increase any taxes, fees, or other assessments? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce any taxes, fees, or other assessments?
House Bill 583 would explicitly prohibit counties and cities from requiring “a license, fee, permit, certification, or registration to operate a short-term rental.”
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Among other requirements, Section 63-1804, Idaho Code, requires short-term rental marketplaces to “register with the state tax commission for collection, reporting, and payment of sales and use and travel and convention taxes levied by this state and any applicable local government taxes administered by the state tax commission on short-term rentals and vacation rentals due from a lodging operator on any lodging transaction facilitated by the short-term rental marketplace.” It also requires these marketplaces to “collect, report, and pay taxes imposed on the lodging operator or occupant of a short-term rental or vacation rental by any local government.”
House Bill 583 would amend this section to add a provision saying, “If an owner of a short-term rental offers a short-term rental or vacation rental directly to an occupant without the use of a short-term rental marketplace, such owner shall comply with all the requirements provided in this section applicable to a short-term rental marketplace.”
Even though local governments are prohibited from imposing certain taxes and fees on short-term rentals, they are still allowed to impose certain add-on taxes such as travel and convention taxes.
This bill would allow these taxes to be imposed on property owners who privately provide a short-term rental to someone.
This requirement isn’t just about taxes; it also requires property owners to register with the state if they offer to provide a short-term rental to someone (regardless of if the transaction actually occurs).
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