Norfolk Virginia Town Halls on AirBnB November 2017

[Kip0]

The City of Norfolk is having two town halls in November to present a pending ordinance for the city of Norfolk Virginia.

The first is 6pm Mon Nov 13 2017 at the Pretlow Library and will feature a presentation by a professor from ODU on the economic impacts of AirBnB.  Then a City attorney will present Norfolk's proposed ordinance.

The second is 6pm Thurs Nov 16 2017 at the Virginia Arts Festival building on Bank St.  A local law firm attorney will present info about the State AirBnB legislation followed by one of the city attorney's that will present Norfolk's proposed ordinance.

Hosts interested in attending can join up with the Coastal Virginia Home Sharing Club on Meet Up (the separate website) to meet ahead of time for the Mon Nov 13th meeting at 5pm at Captain Groovys. We'll head over to Pretlow Library from there or you can just meet us at the Pretlow Library.  WEAR RED so we can identify each other!

[Kip0]

Just an update for those unable to attend Monday night's event we had an awesome turnout of I've got to think at least 30 hosts and the room in general was pro-AirBnB.

Powerful statements were made by many hosts in support of platforms like AirBnB and home sharing in general. 

Please come to Thursday's event if you can.

And for those not in Norfolk I can't emphasize enough how important it is for each of us to get involved locally in ensuring reasonable and pro-home-sharing legislation is enacted at all levels of government.  Municipalities look to each other and we saw firsthand tonight how Norfolk's draft legislation's more onerous parts have been incorporated by other municipalities.  The "precedent" issue is really important and know that you showing up to voice your opinions can and will have an impact not just in your jurisdiction but for all of us.

[Samantha191]

What was the outcome of these meetings? My mom said something about new taxes being implemented on Airbnb hosts in Norfolk but I can't find anything online. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Samantha191, 

I'm just mentioning @Kip0 into this conversation so she receives an notification and will see your reply. 🙂

[Top tip: add the @ symbol and select the person from the dropdown who you are addressing and they will receive a notification alert on their Community Center profile and to their personal email inbox]

[Kip0]

@Samantha191

The City of Norfolk has passed an overall new Zoning Ordinance (for everything) that includes base language that allows short term rentals (separated by the city into "Home Stays" where the host is onsite and "Vacation Rentals" which are full house rentals with owner not on site). 

The new Zoning Ordinance goes into effect on March 1, 2018 and will require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for both types of short term rental.  The CUP is expected to be a formality but it will have your application go to city council to be approved or disapproved to allow you to rent out for a period of one year.  

Additional restricitions or perhaps better stated as "requirements" are under consideration by the City Attorney and will be recommended to Norfolk City Council to be reviewed and passed into law and then just slide into the new overall Zoning Ordinance.  These may include allowing Vacation Rentals to submit to some inspections as a way to bypass the CUP. But the details are still under review and have NOT been scheduled for review yet by the Norfolk City Council.  

So we'll need to watch the City Council agendas to see when it shows up and in meantime get familiar with the new Zoning Ordinance.

[Kip0]

@Samantha191 oh and the taxes are not new - you should already be collecting 6% for the state and 8% for the city of Norfolk plus a per nightly lodging fee for the city of $2.  The city of Norfolk calls them Fiduciary Taxes and for Lodging and  Rooms in required for stays of less than 90 days.

https://www.norfolk.gov/index.aspx?NID=794

[John1395]

Hello everyone, 

I am interested in hosting in the Norfolk's, lake taylor area of town and have been a little hesitant to do so with everything I've read here. I see there are quite a few listings on airbnb site. How are people getting arount these legal restrictions?