Purge Unlicensed Properties

[Todd-and-Reese0]

Now that Denver and other areas in Colorado have passed a law that all short term rentals must own the property and live in it, plus be licensed and insured, AND pay lodgers taxes, it is unfair that there are non-conforming properties on AirBnB. It would be easy to add a box to enter the license number to show hosts that are compliant and not let someone have a listing without a valid license number filled in. It goes into full effect on 12/31. Having a way to display your license number and charge the tax separately would be amazing.

[Linda108]

It is interesting what different cities are doing in response to the popularity of Air BNB and other short term listing platforms.  It appears that Air BNB does not deem it their responsibility to monitor or police whether hosts are compliant with any regulatory body be it city, state or even an HOA.  I admit I am annoyed when I meet hosts that are not licensed or don't pay occupancy tax (as I do) or who flaunt their own HOA regulations forbidding short term rentals.  That being said, I may not want Air BNB involved as such a policing entity either.  As a world-wide organization I wonder if such monitoring might be mis-used by some governments.

[James1]

I'm in San Francisco, the home of airbnb and a hotbed for this very battle.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/350391

The airbnb software DOES include a field for hosts (here in San Francisco) to enter our STR (Short Term Rental) registratrion #. I'm one of the minority of SF hosts who is fully registered and filing my quarterly reports to the city. But my STR number does not show on some of airbnbs many software permutations. It show up on the web site but on the android app and ipad app all you see is (PHONE NUMBER HIDDEN) where the number is supposed to display (under 'Other Things to Note' section, at the absolute bottom of your listing description).

[Todd-and-Reese0]

I found some interesting articles. It looks like the government is going to do the enforcing. The new law says you must have your license listed in any advertisements including listings on here and other rental sites. There are ways to find the property and owner. "Skip-tracing" is the term they used. Someone even said they will book and then cancel the reservation if they need to get the address. Since the fines are up to $999 each time, I guess it would be financially viable.