He told the Journal-News previously he introduced the bill because the industry has evolved, “there are checks and balances” and “there’s a lot of things that are in place that make them good for local homeowners as well as the market.”
Rep. Justin Pizzulli, a freshman Republican from tiny Franklin Furnace in Scioto County, said he latched onto Brenner’s bill after his county commissioners asked him for help because “we’re missing out on a huge amount of lodging tax revenue.”
The bill would local governments from “adopting or enforcing regulations, requirements, restrictions, or other resolutions or ordinances” that would:
- Prohibit short-term rentals;
- Create a lottery system for eligibility of a short-term rental property;
- Use zoning requirements to prohibit or limit short-term rental properties in areas that are zoned to allow for residential use;
- Restrict the number of short-term rental properties a person may operate;
- Require that an owner of a short-term rental property occupy the property.
The bill allows communities to license and regulate establishments for health and safety reasons and charge a maximum $20 fee to pay for it. Lodging taxes would also now apply to short-term rentals and those taxes would be managed by the renting platforms.
The LSC fiscal analysis notes lodging tax revenues “may increase from $121 million to $150 million annually due to the bill’s mandatory extension of the tax to short-term rental properties rather than just hotels.”
The Butler County lodgings tax is a total of 6%, with the county and local jurisdictions where hotels reside splitting it 50/50. Some cities like Hamilton have their own lodgings tax. The tax is paid by hotel users. The hotels are required to self report their occupancy rates and pay the taxes monthly.
The county auditor’s office collected $1.8 million in hotel taxes in 2022, $2 million the following year and $2.2 million last year.
“It generates extra revenues for homeowners who may be having a hard time paying their property taxes, given the high level of property taxes that we see today,” Brenner said. “So I think that’s another reason why we need to allow short-term rentals to continue in the state of Ohio.”
Some area cities are looking into regulating, or have regulated, short-term rental properties from companies including Airbnb or VRBO, after complaints from residents. The city of Oakwood banned short-term rentals in 2019.
Some area cities have a variety of approaches. Some, including Fairborn and Miamisburg, have no regulations at all, citing a lack of problems with short-term rental properties, or not enough Airbnbs in the city to justify the cost or effort of legislation. Others have a permitting process, and may charge hotel or motel tax, while some have passed moratoriums or bans on short-term rentals entirely.
Brenner’s Senate Bill 104 had a second hearing Wednesday and some lawmakers expressed concerns to bill proponent Matt MacLaren, director of Travel and Tourism Policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
MacLaren said this bill is designed to help the “good actors” who want to run responsible establishments.
The bill is mainly focused on short-term rentals offered through the popular platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo that have strict guidelines of their own. Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo asked about other ways people can market their homes.
“Most of the time we pass laws to protect against not the good but the bad. While there are parts of this legislation I think have good merit and will aid in the travel industry, I think we have to look at those bad actors,” she said. “Not the good but the bad actors who will skirt around this legislation. While this is short-term rental and it has certain requirements and many people do use the national platforms, how does this address the one-offs that will do a Marketplace Facebook or whatever.”
MacLaren said “this creates a statewide framework for licensing and registering and the regulations of short-term rentals,” he said and later added because of this measure “everybody will understand what they should actually be doing, and by the way I want to make sure everyone here knows we are in full support of going after the bad guys.”
In addition to McLaren, the committee received written testimony from nearly 200 people who support the bill.
Tracy Kocher, president and CEO of Travel Butler County, told the Journal-News there are approximately 946 Airbnb and Vrbo listings countywide — some properties could be listed on both platforms — and listings have grown roughly 477% since January 2020 when there were 164 listings.
Fairfield, Fairfield Twp., Hamilton and Oxford have new and or updated regulations in place and Liberty and West Chester townships have six-month moratoriums in place while they craft rules.
The Butler County commissioners declined to regulate vacation rentals when it was suggested a couple years ago. Townships governed by county zoning are Hanover, Lemon, Madison, Milford, Oxford and Ross.
West Chester Twp. trustee Mark Welch said they are in the approval process of a comprehensive plan and zoning update and it includes prohibiting these rentals in residential areas and won’t allow rentals for less than 30 days in other areas.
He said there are no restrictions now and they have gotten complaints about too many cars, late-night swim parties and even a house that was rented to some “swingers.”
“We had a situation where swingers rented the house and were having sex in front of the windows with the blinds up,” he said. “You can see where that would probably maybe turn some people off.”
The bill in the House was introduced Feb. 18 and assigned to the Development Committee. No hearings have yet been scheduled.
Welch said he hopes the bills don’t go any further.
“We don’t want Columbus telling us what we can or can’t do,” he said. “They do that enough already.”
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