Vail passes new short-term vacation rental rules

The Town Council of Vail, Colorado, approved a new short-term vacation rental law that tightens requirements for operators, and goes into effect March 1.

The new ordinance requires owners of short-term rental properties to apply for short-term rental licenses that must be renewed every year and are not transferrable to new owners.

Short-term rental owners must also designate a contact person located within 60 minutes of the rental who is available to respond to complaints 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The new regulations also outline a process for complaints. “Any complaint not resolved [by the property contact] within 60 minutes, or within 30 minutes if the problem occurs between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be considered a violation.”

A formal complaint may be filed with the town if an issue is not resolved by the local contact. Three or more formal complaints about the same property within a 12-month period can lead to the property’s short-term rental license being revoked. Once revoked, a short-term rental license cannot be reinstated for two years, unless the property changes hands.

Violating the law can result in penalties of up to $2,650 in fines and/or jail time of up to 180 days.

A controversial requirement that duplex owners must get the consent of their next-door neighbors before renting out their units did not make it into the final version of the law.

Short-term rental operators in Vail are also required to get sales tax licenses and collect 9.8 percent sales and lodging taxes on short-term rental revenues from their guests. That total is made up of a 4 percent city sales tax, a 2.9 percent state sales tax, a 1.5 percent Eagle County sales tax and a local marketing district lodging tax of 1.4 percent.

Short-term rental operators in Vail must get one sales tax license for Vail, which collects the city sales tax, and another license for the state, which collects the state, county, and marketing district lodging taxes.

While Airbnb collects short-term rental taxes for its bookings in some Colorado communities, Vail is not one of them. That means short-term vacation rental operators — whether they use Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, or another platform to book their rentals — are responsible for getting sales tax licenses for both the state and the town, and remitting the correct amounts of taxes to each jurisdiction. Automated solutions can help short-term rental operators make sure they get this right.

Colorado communities such as Vail are realizing short-term vacation rentals are big business that can have a serious impact on their economies and quality of life. Short-term vacation operators need to take their business seriously as well and follow the rules in order to make the most out of their opportunities.