VRBO a four-letter word to neighbors
Short-term vacation rentals aren't new — or hard to come by — in the area, but as resident complaints intensify, Kootenai County officials are taking another look at how to enforce the budding industry.
A request by locals John and Lorri Erickson brought the issue to commissioner and county staff's attention recently after saying a neighboring VRBO rental was violating the wildlife and their personal property.
Vacation Rentals by Owner — better known as VRBO — is one of many options individuals have for acquiring homestyle lodging for short trips. The Ericksons estimate that about eight vacation rental agencies are operating in Kootenai County, with over 1,000 properties available for booking.
Lorri Erickson said short-term rentals like those available online don't have any Kootenai County-specific requirements or restrictions. While this had been a minor inconvenience until recently, Erickson believes it has "reached a point that necessitates county intervention."
VRBO regulations advise property owners to remind travelers of their responsibility to the home and neighborhood. The company recommends setting house rules, following state and local regulations, and encouraging guests to be good neighbors.
Erickson said their neighboring rental consistently violates these recommendations.
"We have had a drone that was disrupting the wildlife and invaded our personal property," Erickson said. "Recently, out-of-state renters were using the property as a shooting range while children were yelling and screaming nearby."
The couple emailed the out-of-state property owners who bought the property as an investment. They relayed concerns about the drone use on April 13. The owners assured the Ericksons that those actions would be prohibited in the future.
In the same email, Erickson said she mentioned a wedding held in the owner's barn last August — which she later found out was one of three that occurred in 2020.
Through past cases against vacation rentals, Erickson said venues require a special use permit granted by government agencies — in her case, Kootenai County. A call with the community development department revealed that the investors had applied for a conditional use permit in 2018 but never completed the approval process.
"It seems that the investors knew that a wedding venue required special permits but failed to follow through with the county, yet they continued to host weddings," she said. "This is another reason the neighbors need the county to regulate short-term rentals."
In Idaho, two statutes govern short-term rentals, I.C. 63-1801-04 and I.C. 67-6539. Added in 2017, Title 63 promotes vacation rentals by “limiting local governmental authority to prohibit these beneficial property uses, or to specifically target them for regulation, except in the circumstances necessary to safeguard public health and welfare.”
The act also states that a local government may not levy a sale use, franchise, receipts or other similar charges on short-term rental places. Instead, those abilities are the sole purview of the state tax commission.
I.C. 67-6539 also limits counties and cities from implementing an ordinance to prohibit short-term rentals. However, the entities can create "reasonable regulations as it deems necessary to safeguard the public health, safety, and general welfare" to protect the surrounding residential neighborhood.
The city of Coeur d'Alene has a short-term vacation rental ordinance, approved in 2018, that requires first-year properties to pay $285 and $96 every year after that. Rentals must provide documentation for a parking plan, safety provisions, owner contact information, emergency contacts, neighborhood notices and other pertinent information.
"Out-of-state investors lean on county resources to manage their properties at the expense of the local taxpayers and neighbors," Lorri Erickson said.
In the eight years David Callahan has been the county's community development director, he said there had been about three formal complaints against short-term rentals. However, about five years ago, he said, a complaint could have led to adoption of regulations, but former commissioners weren't interested in moving forward with the process.
"They've been so long-standing in the county, for more than 30 years before it was popular to call them a VRBO, and people just rented out their property," he said.
With commissioner permission, Callahan plans to ask the Planning Commission to review vacation rental regulation and anticipates solutions could be drafted within the next four months.