MILT THOMAS

At yesterday’s County Commission meeting, Deputy County Attorney Bill DeBraal, reported answers to questions brought up at the last County Commission meeting on December 15. The questions and answers are as follows:

Does a homeowner who claims the homestead exemption and rents out their property as a short term rental lose the exemption?

“Yes, eventually,” says DeBraal, if you rent it out on a long term basis after January 1, you retain the exemption for that year, but you will lose it at the end of the year. If you rent it out on a short term basis for more than a total of 30 days each year in two consecutive years, you would lose your homestead exemption.

How many vacation rentals in unincorporated Indian River County are advertised by Airbnb.com?

DeBraal’s office conducted informal searches to determine how many residences in the county are advertised for short term rentals. Looking at listings for Indian River County, he found that included listings within a 60-mile radius, so counting only those in-county, the total was 65. However, he says, there are many more agencies with listings. (A December 18, 2015 story on InsideVero listed six different rental agencies, one (tripping.com) that showed 484 listings. The number for Airbnb.com was 202 listings.) DeBraal reported that in Pinellas County, Airbnb.com agreed to pay tourist and sales tax, but he didn’t know if that was going to continue. DeBraal says getting information from Airbnb has been difficult.

Attorney was asked to contact Airbnb.com to inquire whether all of their Indian River County listings are registered with the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Airbnb.com officials were vague on that issue as well.

May the County enforce State required registration of vacation rentals through a local ordinance?

DeBraal answered yes to that. We currently enforce state building code regulations.

Does the Fair Housing Act regulate the number of occupants that can reside in a rental property?

No, says DeBraal, unless the same owner also owns at least three other units.

As background to this issue, the state legislature determined in 2011 that local governments cannot impose regulations limiting the rights of property owners to make a profit even within residential neighborhoods unless those regulations already exist.

The City of Vero Beach already had a regulation against renting a home for less than 30 days. Before 2011, the County also had a regulation that any rental for less than 30 days was classified the same as a hotel or motel and had to be in a commercial district. Then in 2012, the County Commission exempted rentals of less than 30 days from the hotel regulation, opening up residential areas to short term rentals. Now that short term rentals have become a serious issue in the county and could affect candidates and commissioners running for re-election, the Short Term Rental Committee has been formed to come up with suggestions for ordinances that will be acceptable in light of the state limitations on regulations. The questions answered above by Deputy County Attorney DeBraal, reflect a given, that short term rentals in residential communities will continue. At least some regulations are necessary to prevent the most egregious behavior of transient renters and ensure compliance with existing laws regarding registration with the state, code regulations and payment of commercial taxes. Limited government advocates on the committee seem to  want as little regulation as possible while others feel regulation should at least be up to state standards, although the state has done little to enforce those standards.

However, several citizen groups, including the South Beach Property Owner’s Association and Indian River Neighborhood Association, are focused on quality of life issues, primarily the right of residential property owners to live in quiet enjoyment of their homes without the disruption of transient renters who have no connection or responsibility to their neighbors.

The Short Term Rental Committee will be meeting again tomorrow (Thursday, January 14 at 10 a.m. in County Administration Building B, Room 105) to continue discussing potential recommendations.