ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council is expected next month to be presented a proposal to regulate the short-term rental of rooms and whole houses, which has increased dramatically with the use of online marketing.
Safety issues, the effect on neighborhoods, and the loss of lodging tax revenues all have been mentioned as reasons for better regulating these types of rentals, which some claim violate state and local laws. The issue has received attention with mixed results elsewhere around the country and in Maine, including in Portland and Cape Elizabeth.
Rockland Code Officer John Root said the proposal is still being developed but is aimed at clarifying local laws that deal with residential lodging.
“I have no desire for more regulations,” Root said.
A review of rooms and houses for rent, many for short terms, on the website airbnb.com listed 29 available rentals in Rockland and 239 in the midcoast area as of Thursday. The one bedroom rooms range from $70 to $119 per night. Around the world, millions of thrifty travellers and property owners seeking a new revenue stream are using the site.
One Rockland resident who voiced concerns to the City Council about the issue last year maintained this week that the upsurge in short-term rentals is a detriment to the community.
“The current housing ordinances inadvertently and unintentionally benefit these kinds of opportunities and not the person who seeks to create a home in a neighborhood,” said Seth Thompson.
He said the city laws should be changed to protect the safety of renters, maintain the fabric of Rockland’s residential neighborhoods and enforce fair competition among lodging businesses.
The code officer said that licensed bed-and-breakfasts in Rockland also have voiced concerns about area property owners renting out multiple rooms for a few days at a time without having to abide by the regulations their establishments face.
Cheryl Michaelsen, who operates the Berry Manor Inn bed-and-breakfast in Rockland, said innkeepers are working on a formal request for the council and expect to meet next week to finalize the wording. She said she wanted to wait until afterward to comment.
Root said the ordinance changes he will offer will ensure that short-term rentals will not create parking, traffic or noise problems in residential neighborhoods. He said they also would address safety concerns for renters such as ensuring there are working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
The proposal being developed will not affect long-term rentals of houses, Root said. This is aimed at people renting rooms for less than a week at a time and houses for no more than a week but less than a month at a time, he said.
In terms of single rooms, an inspection and approval would be completed by the code office under the proposal that is still in the works. If a person is renting multiple rooms to different people for less than a week at a time, that property would fall under the bed-and-breakfast regulations and require planning board review and approval. Rentals of homes for no less than a week or up to 30 days would be reviewed by the code office. The code officer added that his proposal also would mandate that the owner live in the house when renting a room or multiple rooms to different people.
Root said he plans to offer an exception in the ordinance amendments to allow for a person to rent rooms or a house for up to two weeks, cumultatively, per year. This would allow rentals during particularly busy times when housing is in demand such as during the North Atlantic Blues Festival and the Maine Lobster Festival.
The code officer said he wants a clear, concise ordinance in the end that a person can look at and easily determine what they will be allowed to do.
Nicole Fuller rents rooms in her home for days at a time and said she would like to see the law clarify what is allowed, but she voiced concern about requiring that anyone renting more than one room for less than seven days at a time be licensed as a bed-and-breakfast. But Fuller praised the code officer for seeking input from all parties.
Fuller bought her home two years ago and said she purchased it knowing she would need the rental income to pay for the house. Fuller is an artist specializing in photography and filmmaking.
“The challenge in Maine is how to make a living. It’s no secret that the economy is pretty tough,” Fuller said.
She said the people who book rooms on airbnb.com are generally in their 20s and 30s who are not interested in renting a cabin, a hotel or staying at a bed-and-breakfast.
Fuller said if the ordinance is approved as currently written, people like her would not be able to continue renting rooms. She said she would need to install a sprinkler system and perhaps other requirements if she is classified as a bed-and-breakfast.
She said her experience with renters has been very positive and that some of her neighbors have made friends with the people who have come through and stayed at her place. The loss of these rentals would mean many of these renters would simply not come to Rockland.
Fuller said she pays the state’s lodging tax and pays income tax on what she earns from renting the rooms. Airbnb sends tax documents to each of the people who use the site and those documents are also provided to the government so that people know to pay the taxes, she said.
Peter Beaulieu, the director of sales, fuel and special tax division for the Maine Bureau of Revenue Services, said Thursday that anyone who rents a home or cabin for 15 days or more a year is required to register with the division in order to collect and pay the state sales tax on lodging. The sales tax on lodging is 8 percent compared to the general sales tax of 5.5 percent.
Beaulieu said the state is familiar with airbnb. He said if the state becomes aware of someone advertising rental of a property that requires sales tax to be collected and paid, the staff will check to see if those people have filed with the state. If not, the state will contact them for compliance.