I'm interested in knowing of any experiences (with a focus on VT) with anyone that has had a guest that would not leave or where they exceeded the agreed upon occupancy of the unit and what you were able to do about it.
In doing my research on this situation I found that all of the local and state law enforcement were not aware if they had the authority to remove a STR guest from a property if they have overstayed their agreed rental period. Each agency Local Police, State Police, Sherriff (they do evictions) and District Attorney were all of the opinion that they did not have the authority to remove the guest and that the host would have to go through the landlord/tenant process.
It turns out they are wrong, the state of VT exempts host/guest situations as landlord/tenant if; 1-the stay is less than 28 days and 2-the host is remitting occupancy tax (which ABB does for the state of VT). This allows the authorities to remove the guest as they would a guest in a hotel that failed to pay.
This was not an easy process as you can see since I had to do the research and had to educate local law enforcement (BTW: the DA is still skeptical) as follows:
Title 9 Chapter 137, S 4451(10) defines a "Tenant":
"Tenant" means a person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a residential dwelling unit to the exclusion of others. (Added 1985, No. 175 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2007, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 44; 2015, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
Title 9 Chapter 137, S 4452(4) Exclusions from "Tenancy":
transient occupancy in a hotel, motel, or lodgings during the time the occupancy is subject to a tax levied under 32 V.S.A. chapter 225;
STR's in Vermont are taxed under 32 V.S.A chapter 225 the same as hotels and BnB's therefore there is no "Tenancy" granted under the state code. From what I can tell law enforcement would treat an over occupancy, a guest that refuses to pay or one that overstays the agreed upon period as a trespass. Based on that, law enforcement could remove the guest in the same way they would respond to a guest that exceeds the occupancy of a room or fails to leave in a hotel.
In my area of VT if a guest exceeds the licensed capacity of the unit, the host could be fined $300/day where the occupancy is exceeded. This leaves a host in a situation where if law enforcement will not remove the guest, you as the host are racking up big fines and have no ability to mitigate the situation.
What I'm curious about is anyone that has had direct experience with the removal of a guest that either exceeded the agreed upon occupancy or stayed beyond the agreed upon rental period as follows:
1. What did ABB do (or not do) to assist, advise, intervene and/or facilitate the removal?
2. If you engaged law enforcement what was their response?
3. What was the ultimate outcome?
Please don't respond unless you have real information to share and please include your state when responding.
