LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 50 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ Oct. 19 – 25, 2017 ]
28 Farm meets fashion Supervisors Order Rt. 15 Fixes BY RENSS GREENE
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
County supervisors voted to begin registering short-term rentals like this Airbnb property on South King Street in Leesburg. It’s the first step toward taxing and regulating Airbnb-type properties.
Renting Out on Airbnb? More Regulations Coming
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BY RENSS GREENE oudoun’s multi-year effort to track, regulate and tax shortterm rentals, such as those offered through Airbnb and VRBO, has begun to yield re-
sults. Companies like Airbnb have resisted increased regulation, and the taxation that comes with it. But last year, the General Assembly passed a law that requires hosting platforms like Airbnb to register with the state Department of Taxation to collect and remit taxes on behalf of the property owners. This year, the General Assembly passed another law authorizing localities to require people offering short-term rentals to register with the government. Visit Loudoun President and CEO Beth Erickson helped lead Loudoun’s effort to wield more control over short-term rentals. She said recently Visit Loudoun checked Airbnb listings in Loudoun and found 439 residential units offering 932 sleeping rooms. “When you put that into context, we have 131 sleeping rooms in traditional bed-
and-breakfasts,” Erickson said. “That clearly greatly eclipses that number. That 932 sleeping rooms represents about 16 percent of the inventory that we have in our hotels.” For a person traveling on a budget, renting a spare bedroom on internet platforms like Airbnb can also be cheaper than a B&B or a hotel. In pushing for greater regulation of short-term rentals, Erickson has cited concerns about safety, including fire code, and Loudoun’s foregone tax revenue. The county collects a transient occupancy tax on hotel and B&B stays, but is not collecting a tax on all of those short-term residential rentals, simply because there is no way to keep track of them. Last year, Visit Loudoun estimated the county had missed out on $923,000 in revenue. County supervisors unanimously voted Oct. 19 to establish a registry and annual registration process for rental operators. A working group comprised of staff members from the Departments of Planning and Zoning, Building and Development, County Administration, Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, and the Commissioner of the Revenue will decide help set the regis-
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Fall Tune Up Valid until Nov. 30, 2017. Residential only. Not valid with any other offer or coupon. Limit one coupon per customer. Other restrictions apply.
tration fee for homeowners renting rooms through sites like Airbnb and VRBO—and penalties for noncompliance. “Short-term residential rentals are a key player in our industry, and they’re going to continue to be a key player in our industry,” Erickson said. “And I think that making sure the county has that infrastructure in place for short-term residential rentals to be able to flourish in our economy is important.” After the registry is set up, the county will have to decide how these home businesses—which by definition are in residential areas—fit into its zoning ordinances. The rooms and houses for rent could also face additional health department, building code, and fire code regulations. But some of the operators on Airbnb are renting properties where they don’t live. That, according to county zoning officials, is where the trouble can begin. “If people don’t live in a house, but they’re renting it out in the middle of a neighborhood, obviously, they don’t have the same skin in the game as the people RENTAL REGULATIONS >> 37
County supervisors have voted to begin the first phase of improvements on Loudoun’s famously congested and accident-prone Rt. 15 north of Leesburg, starting with the complicated triangle intersection of Rt. 15, North King Street and the Leesburg Bypass. Under the plan, the county will modify the pavement already there to add another northbound lane between King Street and Tutt Lane. That work is expected to finish next spring. The county will also work with the Virginia Department of Transportation to hire an engineer to design additional improvements to Rt. 15, and with Supervisors Kristen C. Umstattd (D-Leesburg) and Geary M. Higgins (R-Catoctin) to continue gathering public input. The county will also ask the Town of Leesburg to help fund that work. People living along Rt. 15 packed the boardroom last week to plead with supervisors to fix the road. Alfred McCusker talked about moving into the corridor and watching traffic get out of control. “We’re talking about shattered lives here, and the growth is something that we had no control over,” McCusker said. The latest push for Rt. 15 improvements came after a study of congestion gave the road failing marks. The consulting firm that prepared the study recommended a flyover ramp at King Street, a roundabout at Whites Ferry Road, and widening Rt. 15 to four lanes. “This is a problem that’s been going on for a long time, so I think we’ve made incredible progress in a short period of time, quite frankly,” Higgins said. The board previously also expanded the first congestion study all the way to the Maryland state line; that study is expected back by winter of 2018. RT. 15 FIXES >> 37
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