After years of delays, Lexington finally poised to regulate short-term rentals like Airbnb
Lexington short-term rental operators will have to be licensed and registered with the city by the end of the year.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted Tuesday to move forward with the controversial regulations that dictate where short-term rentals can go and requires an annual registration fee.
The council will likely take a final vote on the regulations, which have been debated since 2019, at its July 11 meeting. A first reading will take place at its Thursday meeting.
It’s taken four years for the city to get to this point.
Lexington is one of the few cities of its size without comprehensive regulations for short-term rentals. Louisville has had regulations on short-term rentals since 2015 and is in the process of updating them after years of complaints about too many short-term rentals in certain neighborhoods. Georgetown passed regulations on short-term rentals earlier this year.
The city currently has no idea how many short-term rentals are operating in Fayette County.
The council initially approved a set of regulations for short-term rentals in March, including zone text amendments that would regulate short-term rentals such as Airbnb and VRBO. Those new regulations were then sent to the Urban County Planning Commission for review. The planning commission made some changes to the proposal the council originally passed in March.
What the regulations say
The proposed changes to city ordinances would require all short-term rental operators to pay a $200 license fee. For those with multiple short-term rentals, operators will have to pay $200 on the first rental and $100 for the remaining rentals. Short-term rentals would get a local registration number that must be advertised on all short-term rental websites.
The annual fees will help the city pay for software that will assist in managing short-term rentals.
Short-term rentals in residential areas would have a maximum occupancy of 12. Private events, including weddings, cannot be hosted at a short-term rental if the total number of attendees exceeds 12 people. Short-term rentals in some business zones would not have maximum limits.
If hosts want to have more than 12 people at a property, they can get a conditional use permit.
The regulations also make clear where short-term rentals are allowed and what types of short-term rentals will need city sign offs.
If the short-term rental is part of an owner-occupied home, it will be allowed without a conditional use permit.
Conditional use permits, which are granted by the city’s Board of Adjustment, will also not be required in certain business zones that allow for homes and other residential properties and hotels. Those that fail to follow the city’s short-term rental rules will face a $125 fine for a first offense and a $1,000 fine for a fourth offense.
Operators will have six months after the ordinances and zone text amendments are passed to become licensed. Current operators in zones that would require conditional use permits would be grandfathered and would not need to apply for a conditional use permit, city officials have said.
The rules only apply to properties inside the urban service boundary.
The Rural Land Management Board, which oversees policy in the area outside the boundary, is developing policies for short-term rentals in the county.
Those short-term rental operators operating in the rural area aren’t necessarily operating illegally, said Jim Duncan, director of planning for the city. They can still operate if they limit stays to seven days.
The council made some slight tweaks to the proposal after hearing from both short-term rental operators and neighbors of short-term rentals before voting to move forward with the ordinance.
Several short-term rental operators asked the city to do away with the 12 person maximum in certain zones, arguing such a cap would hurt their business.
Doug Burton encouraged the council to move forward with the regulations. Burton has short-term rentals on both sides of his home. Burton said there have been repeated problems.
There was a party at one of the rentals that started at 6 p.m. and ended at 6 a.m. when multiple police cars and an ambulance were called. More recently, a group rented one of the neighboring homes, showing up at midnight.
Burton said he wished the city did not grandfather current users.
“That’s just a sample of the hundreds of problems we have had,” Burton said.
Councilman James Brown said it’s likely the city will make changes to the ordinance after it passes. First, the city needs to know how many short-term rentals are in Fayette County, he said.
