AirBnB; not in my back yard
County Mayor Carlos Gimenez has reached an agreement with AirBnB regarding county resort taxes. AirBnB will now collect six percent county resort tax from hots and the money will end up with the county each month. It should amount to $8 million per year.
Some areas of the county like Miami Beach will pay a different tax a they have a four percent resort tax and Bal Harbour has a three percent resort tax. So this will be added to the taxes sent in by AirBnB hosts.
County Commissioners need to approve this and the tax collection will then start in right away.
Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine held a press converence Monday, they are both opposed to the whole idea of AirBnB.
AirBnB is one of those things where you love to use it when traveling, but you don't want it in your neighborhood, but you can't have it both ways.
One problem with AirBnB and places in the Grove like the Sonesta and Mutiny is that both of those locations have a situation where owners of units in each hotel/condo are able to rent out their units, but they would normally go through the hotel portion and they would split the fee that people paid to rent a unit. Now that is being by-passed by neighbors who go through AirBnB which only charges them a small percentage and is easier to navigate and use to advertise the properties.
I feel that Regalado and Levine are just going through the motions to appease the hotel industry, because I don't see how they can control it. People have been renting their properties out forever before there ever was an AirBnB and I don't think it will stop. Can the city regulate short term rentals? Can they regulate roommates or family members staying at locations for short periods of time? Other than rules placed by condo boards, I don't see how the city can stop people from renting locations out as short term rentals. Now as for Homestead Exemptions, I think that is quite easy to regulate. If a person is not living in the property full time, then of course, they would not receive a homestead exemption. AirBnB in this case would flush out people who are using the exemptions illegally simply by looking at their rental record. How often is the property rented out?
It's like Uber. This is the future.
Some areas of the county like Miami Beach will pay a different tax a they have a four percent resort tax and Bal Harbour has a three percent resort tax. So this will be added to the taxes sent in by AirBnB hosts.
County Commissioners need to approve this and the tax collection will then start in right away.
Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine held a press converence Monday, they are both opposed to the whole idea of AirBnB.
AirBnB is one of those things where you love to use it when traveling, but you don't want it in your neighborhood, but you can't have it both ways.
One problem with AirBnB and places in the Grove like the Sonesta and Mutiny is that both of those locations have a situation where owners of units in each hotel/condo are able to rent out their units, but they would normally go through the hotel portion and they would split the fee that people paid to rent a unit. Now that is being by-passed by neighbors who go through AirBnB which only charges them a small percentage and is easier to navigate and use to advertise the properties.
I feel that Regalado and Levine are just going through the motions to appease the hotel industry, because I don't see how they can control it. People have been renting their properties out forever before there ever was an AirBnB and I don't think it will stop. Can the city regulate short term rentals? Can they regulate roommates or family members staying at locations for short periods of time? Other than rules placed by condo boards, I don't see how the city can stop people from renting locations out as short term rentals. Now as for Homestead Exemptions, I think that is quite easy to regulate. If a person is not living in the property full time, then of course, they would not receive a homestead exemption. AirBnB in this case would flush out people who are using the exemptions illegally simply by looking at their rental record. How often is the property rented out?
It's like Uber. This is the future.
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
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4 Comments:
Well said Tom. The other issue in buildings like Sonesta and Mutiny, the Hotel program supports the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings. This bypass of Air BnB will ultimately lead to higher HOA cost as the Air BnB guests use the amenities of buildings but nothing from their stay is allocated to the the up keep. The same can be said about non hotel buildings as the common spaces are have more usage than the average owner thus increasing cost. Also most of the Air BnB do not have the proper licenses from DBPR as they are running a transit rental business vs. a private renter for 30 days. Transit rental business needs to be registered with DBPR and the company needs to be registered at sunbiz.org and have an occupational licenses to ensure they are paying taxes. One other issue I have noticed is owners renting out locations but have it listed with the Miami Dade County Property Appraisal office has having Homestead exception. This is homestead fraud http://www8.miamidade.gov/Apps/PA/PAOnlineTools/HomesteadFraud/HomesteadFraud.aspx.
I know I don't want a hostel next to my house. I can't see how multiple houses in Coconut Grove being rented out as hotels will give us the "Grove Lifestyle" we're all clamoring for. I have a friend in New Orleans who is the only actual resident on her street, the rest are Air BnBs. She says their is nothing like being treated like you're an exhibit in a museum or a batchelor party on a Wednesday to really sour you on the AirBnB experience.
Gimenez is thinking ahead of the curve and the middle ground. Unlike the other mayors he is not bought by special interests. The talk of dangerous 'strangers' are from people who are paranoid and bigoted and dream of a time when we used to be able to feel kinship with neighbors. Those good-old days are gone, Folks! 'Complaints from homeowners associations...' You mean those few self-appointed pseudo reps who have meetings that nobody comes to? The Village of Center Grove Homeowners Assoc. more likely will take the side of whatever business enterprise donates the most money or whichever politiician the leader wants to suck up to at the moment. I think Rigalado has a solution in search of a problem...and allowing guests into one's home is not 'commercial' as he claims. Let the Grove residents get a small fringe benefit to offset the high cost of living in our popular place as well as having to deal with the years of constant high-rise construction noise, dust, high influx of weekend festival event-goers, etc. My neighbor is with AirBB and I see plenty of 'strangers' who are way more friendly than my permanent neighbors, most of which are renters...with barking dogs. Now or mayor has joined the pack and barking at nothing dangerous.
Politicians have problem with efficiencies and progress internet based commerce is creating because the systems are very democratic and most people in power do not like democracy.
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