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Nov. 08, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV aims rental rule at 'party houses'

By ALAN CHOATE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A divided Las Vegas City Council voted to put the kibosh on short-term housing rentals Wednesday, but it's not clear that the ban will prevent homeowners from renting to weekend or weekly visitors or whether that's even what the council wants to stop.

What is clear, however, is that large numbers of people have been renting their homes to visitors in violation of bans in Henderson and Clark County, and existing Las Vegas laws are habitually violated as well.

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    • On a 4-2 vote, the council prohibited rentals of less than 30 days in residential zones.

    The measure is aimed at "party houses" that bring the free-for-all, all-night-long debauchery of the Strip into single-family neighborhoods.

    But several people told the council Wednesday that the impact will be much broader, bringing down retirement incomes and potentially worsening an already stormy home foreclosure picture.

    That's the concern of Councilman Steve Wolfson, who voted against the new ordinance though he originally co-sponsored it.

    "The way this bill reads in its proposed fashion is too broad," he said. "We need to narrowly draft this statute so that it targets the people we're after. Why pass a law now and worry about everything else later?"

    But Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said the city needed an enforcement tool against houses that cause chronic problems for neighbors.

    "I can understand the pain some of you are feeling right now," she told the ordinance's critics. "I'm not against looking at it further, but I want to have a vote today."

    Two areas of city code already applied to short-term rentals, said City Attorney Brad Jerbic.

    Rentals of less than 30 days are subject to a 2 percent room tax, and owners of those properties must have a business license to rent them. City staff weren't aware of anyone obtaining the needed license, nor of anyone cited for noncompliance.

    "We probably have hundreds or thousands of local property owners ... who are breaking the law," Wolfson said.

    "Probably," said Jerbic.

    The new ordinance gives the city a more direct way to penalize property owners. It's a "blunt statement" that properties in a residential zone can't be leased for terms of less than 30 days, Jerbic said.

    The new law probably won't stop business, said Michele Pombo of Southwest Management Group. Her Web site has three pages of houses in the Las Vegas Valley that are advertised as available for short-term and corporate rentals.

    "I'm going to write a lot of 31-day paperwork," she said, noting that she has regular clients who've booked as far ahead as 2009 -- and that none of her tenants has ever warranted police intervention.

    Local mortgage broker Robert Turner said people are managing to keep up with their mortgage payments by renting space to visitors.

    "What we're talking about here is survival of the fittest," he said. "There's going to be a whole 'nother run of (foreclosures)."

    Henderson and Clark County already had short-term rental bans. Enforcement is complaint-based, meaning sites that don't annoy the neighbors usually don't get in trouble.

    That flummoxed Councilman Larry Brown, who joined Wolfson in voting against the ordinance.

    "This whole industry of the vacation rentals is a part of the market -- an illegal part of the market," Brown said.

    "I think the focus of our actions should be a better means of enforcement of the existing code. ... It's hypocritical to sit here and say, 'We know you're doing things illegally, but don't worry.' "

    Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.

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    doughboy wrote on November 08, 2007 07:16 PM: ^-^


    doughboy wrote on November 08, 2007 07:15 PM: "Rentals of less than 30 days are subject to a 2 percent room tax, and owners of those properties must have a business license to rent them. City staff weren't aware of anyone obtaining the needed license, nor of anyone cited for noncompliance." That's the biggest problem the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.


    gp wrote on November 08, 2007 02:04 PM: The city council did the correct thing. After listening to the stupid cry babys at the meeting trying to keep their overpriced homes, by renting them out on a weekend to some scum bag yo-yo's, tuff. I don't care about your house payment, your stupid kid college plans, etc. Suck it up and sell your house. The people that live in your neighborhood deserve better, and it is not you jerks.


    BC wrote on November 08, 2007 12:58 PM: Property owners' rights? What rights? You don't need no steeenking rights!

    There exists a mechanism to break up an unruly party, legally. If that doesn't work, there are other ways of remedying the problem so that it can't happen again in the near future.

    But of course, we could always use more laws.


    Anthony wrote on November 08, 2007 10:59 AM: Why aren't police breaking up these problem parties if they are a public nuisance? Go as far as to arrest the organizer for disorderly conduct or failing to disburse or something.

    You figure, the party organizers must have juice if the police aren't doing anything about it.


    cas127 wrote on November 08, 2007 10:05 AM: 29 day parties?

    Yeah, right.

    In the latest scam of our kleptocratic government, hotel/motel/extended stay owners have used their purchased political influence to attempt to gut increasing competition from private home owners who can't sell their properties - so instead are renting them out to short term visitors (for one or two weeks usually - not days).

    Thought you owned your home?

    Sure.

    But the government owns *you*.


    Russ wrote on November 08, 2007 09:13 AM: Well JohnKRulues, I'm sure in the neighborhood you live in no one would care anyway.


    JohnkirbyRules wrote on November 08, 2007 07:36 AM: It's my house. I'll do what I want with it. If I want to rent it out to my PETS I will. If the City of LV has a problem with it, they can pay my mortgage.


    Kendall wrote on November 08, 2007 06:51 AM: Our short term rental properties bring more visitors and tourism to this town and help the local economy, especially with people who normally would not be able to afford to stay here for a week or two if they had to stay in a hotel. There's a lot of decent families and retirees who come to visit LV who don't have wild parties, just regular people who want to come and stay a while and want to see our lovely city but want to enjoy the comforts and security of being in a home. That's what the majority of these residential properties provide. The housing market is already in a slump. That's all we need is more houses in a market's that's already stagnant.


    x wrote on November 08, 2007 05:01 AM: x


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