@Erick13, the short answer to your question is yes. As far as I can tell, Airbnb is just fine with illegal short term rentals. They include disclaimer language about checking with your local laws so as to indemnify themselves of any responsibility. I get it. If I were a business like Airbnb, I'd do the same. There's no way they can realistically keep up with the various rental ordinances in every place where they have hosts.
As it happens, this is exactly what our city is going through. Our city planning department and city council are considering how they can regulate short-term rentals, including providing a list of requirements and imposing annual licensing fees. Their main aim is to collect 9 percent hotel occupancy tax, though they also want to limit the number of nuisance properties, noise complaints and other violations. I have no problem collecting the tax, but Airbnb, unlike at least two of its competitors, does not provide convenient (or, I'd argue, reasonable) options for hosts to collect these taxes. I'm hoping occupancy tax collection is baked into the platform announcements on Nov. 18.
So, to recap, short-term rentals are illegal in my town too, at least for the time being. But we still host. We keep a relatively low profile, and we impose strict noise restrictions on our guests. (Our casita is on our backyard and only holds two people, so noise hasn't been an issue...at least so far.) We also communicate with our neighbors and encourage them to come to us immediately if they have any problem whatsoever.
I recommend you try to reach out to other STR hosts in your area and ask them if they've felt any repurcussions from the city or county. Perhaps you can identify a couple from the planning department meeting video. Use whatever intel you can get your hands on to host responsibly, and quietly, until the county figures out how it wants to regulate STRs.
Good luck!
