VENTNOR – On Aug. 26, Airbnb President Greg Greeley announced that the online transient accommodation marketplace reached the 400 million guest arrival milestone. A month later, Ventnor officials discussed how the city could put some controls on short-term rentals in the city.
On Sept. 27, Commissioners Lance Landgraf and Tim Kriebel discussed how to solve the problem of “party houses” that have disturbed neighbors during the summer season.
Airbnb was founded in 2008 with a “people-to-people” internet platform that allows property owners to become “hospitality entrepreneurs,” according to the Airbnb website. Today, Airbnb has more than 5 million listings in 81,000 cities in 191 countries.
“We would like to limit the impacts of Airbnbs we’ve had problems with,” Landgraf said, admitting that not every Airbnb rental has been problematic. “But we have had enough of them that there is concern,” he said.
Landgraf said the weekend rental of large homes has resulted in problems with noise, traffic, parking and “loud behavior” at night. “One house had a tour bus pull up,” he said.
Tenants arrive on Friday, ruin the weekend for neighbors and by Monday when city officials are back at work and can address the problems, they are gone, he said.
“We need some controls on it, that we know who the landlords are and we can reach them at 2 a.m. when we have problems,” Landgraf said.
Kriebel said limiting short-term rentals would be counterproductive for the tourism market and would be “creating a solution for something that’s not that big,” he said.
People who visit even for just a few days generate revenue for restaurants and other local businesses, he said.
“I don’t want to stop it,” Landgraf said, but the city could require registrations and inspections on properties rented for less than a week.
Solicitor Tim Maguire said the committee might find it challenging to come up with a solution that addresses Airbnb problems but doesn’t affect “what has been going on in Ventnor for years.”
“When you adopt something, it’s going to be applicable to all rentals,” Maguire said.
Linwood recently adopted an ordinance prohibiting all rentals for less than 30 days. The penalty for violations is $1,000 per day.
“That wouldn’t work in a shore community,” Maguire said.
In June, both houses of the New Jersey Legislature voted to impose a tax on transient accommodations. The tax on transient accommodation marketplace rentals went into effect on Oct. 1.
Landgraf said the city could consider an ordinance requiring property owners to register all rentals and allow the city to inspect them.
“That could be cumbersome for us with the staffing we have,” Landgraf said. “But they should have to get something from us each time they change tenants.”
Kriebel said it doesn’t make good business sense to require property owners to register every time they accept a new tenant.
“Maybe an Airbnb should be required to get a mercantile license because they are running a business,” Landgraf said. “That doesn’t require any timeline.”
Property owners are currently required to obtain certificates of occupancy or rental license to lease their properties on an annual or seasonal basis.
“They need to be held accountable,” Kriebel said. “But we need to peel away some layers of bureaucracy.”
City officials agreed to discuss the proposal with the administrative team before taking any action.
