Hi Carrie
From:
Pennsylvania hotel occupancy lodging tax
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/061/chapter38/chap38toc.html
Chapter 38 Hotel Occupancy Tax
Hotel—A building in which the public may, for a consideration, obtain sleeping accommodations, including establishments such as inns, motels, tourist homes, tourist houses or courts, lodging houses, rooming houses, summer camps, apartment hotels, resort lodges and cabins and other building or group of buildings in which sleeping accommodations are available to the public for periods of time less than 30 days.
Curt’s comments, “ need to determine definitions of above terms to see if you are a “hotel” as defined above.”
From article 7-22-2014 http://www.wearecentralpa.com/news/zoning-board-rules-against-tourist-homes
STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY - A decision has been made on a controversial zoning issue in a Centre County borough.
The State College Zoning Hearing Board decided the way two borough homes were being used were in fact for "tourist home" purposes and say it won't be permitted.
The two homes at question are zoned as R-2 residential properties, meaning they are specifically designed to be a single-family home in a residential zoned neighborhood, but these two properties are being used for what the borough and neighbors are calling "tourist homes."
"It takes away from the neighborliness of the neighborhood," Janet Engeman said.
Engeman is pleased with the Zoning Hearing Board's decision Tuesday.
"This is what I was hoping would take place," she said. "I live just a couple doors away from those properties and we've been aware of the problem for quite some time."
She, other neighbors and the zoning board said 612 Walnut Street and 138 West Prospect Avenue are being advertised as vacation homes. They're often rented out on a short-term basis for special event weekends, especially during Penn State's football season.
Neighbors said not having consistent residents in the homes goes against code and is making their neighborhood less neighbor-friendly.
Now, the borough said this type of transient housing isn't allowed.
"The critical matter here was that the two owners were not occupying those two homes," Stanford Lembeck, Chairman of the Zoning Hearing Board, said. "They live some place else."
Pennsylvania definitions:
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
Boarding house—A building or portion of a building occupied for human habitation in which five or more persons, not related to the proprietor or manager, are furnished with meals and lodging.
Lodging house—A building or portion thereof in which five or more persons, not related to the proprietor or manager, are furnished with sleeping accommodations and shall include rooming houses, bachelor apartments, dormitories, barracks, bunk houses and other kinds of buildings used to furnish sleeping accommodations.
Curt’s comments: “so you are not a boarding or lodging house unless 5 or more persons were staying there.
Rooming houses: There seems to be no definition in the above PA law so:
https://www.planning.org/pas/at60/report105.htm
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS
1313 EAST 60TH STREET — CHICAGO 37 ILLINOIS
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Information Report No. 105
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December 1957
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Rooming Houses
A Problem of Definition
Hundreds of zoning ordinances have loopholes that permit group living arrangements. In most of these cases, potential difficulties are caused by unsatisfactory definitions. It is always nice, of course, to have at least a general idea what an ordinance is talking about when it uses a particular term. But technicalities are particularly important in this field. Sloppy definitions enable the promoters of unwanted group living arrangements to claim that it is some other use that is on the permitted list. Unhappy neighbors have occasionally unexpectedly been forced to adjust to 40 or 50 fraternity brothers living together in a one-family zone.
Three important distinguishing characteristics of group living quarters are laid down in the zoning ordinance of Bismarck, North Dakota (1953):
- The occupants are [or at least may be] unrelated;
- Separate cooking facilities are not provided for individuals or groups of individuals;
- Persons residing in the building are domiciled more or less permanently, in contrast to the transient residents characteristic of hotels . . .
Curt’s comments “so you do not seem to be a “lodging houses” “.
I am not sure what your redress is but you seem to not fit the definition of hotel as long as you occupy a portion of the house and have had 5 or fewer guests at a time. I would politely tell them to pound sand. I am not a lawyer but would suggest you send a polite letter to the State and say that you do not fit their definition of hotel. You simply occasionally rent a room in your house that has not been modified in any way to change the single family characteristics and that you did pay income tax on the Airbnb activity and see what comes next. For the form I would check off $0 as hotel income send the form and the letter back to them.
Regards, Curt and good luck