Las Vegas City Council proposes all-out ban on short term rentals in the city
United States: Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian is proposing a ban on short term rentals in the city following regular complaints from neighbours of Airbnb host properties.
Las Vegas is currently the only city in Clark Country to allow short term rentals rented via online platforms like Airbnb but Tarkanian is now proposing an all-out ban due to the disturbances which have angered residents.
Tarkanian said: “It’s noise, it’s parties, and it’s intrusion into the neighbourhood. That’s where their main business is to make money, I feel, not to care about the people. Personally, you’re going to have people, or you’re going to have profit.”
A ban, however, may be difficult to impose as many entrepreneurs in the popular holiday destination believe they have a right to cash in by listing their properties on sites such as Airbnb.
One person in favour of short term rentals in Las Vegas said: “I think that as a homeowner you should have an option to do it.”
The city currently has 160 approved licences but it remains to seen whether they would be grandfathered or allowed to remain until their lease expires.
Tarkanian said existing Las Vegas homeowners were telling her that they had never signed on to become a short-term rental neighbourhood.
She said they were telling her: “We bought this home zoned residential. You have not changed the zoning.”
Although the ‘people versus profit’ debate is ongoing, short-term rentals in Las Vegas may be on their way out if Tarkanian gets her way with the ban.
The City Planning Commission is set to vote at an open meeting on Tuesday on the proposed ordinance to ban short-term rentals in Las Vegas in City Council Chambers.
