Complaining that city officials for years have failed to enforce laws banning illegal short-term rentals, residents and advocates appeared before the City Council on Monday to lobby for more action. "This is a problem faced by tourist destinations all over the world, and they continue to wrestle with the problem," said Jerry Zachary of the Vieux Carre Property Owners,...
Complaining that city officials for years have failed to enforce laws banning illegal short-term rentals, residents and advocates appeared before the City Council on Monday to lobby for more action.
"This is a problem faced by tourist destinations all over the world, and they continue to wrestle with the problem," said Jerry Zachary of the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates Inc. "In the French Quarter it is increasingly difficult to know your neighbors because they change every weekend."
The critics say that property owners who lease their apartments or homes to visitors for short stays are not only hurting their neighbors but are cutting into the profits or legitimate lodging businesses.
Members of VCPORA estimated that licensed hotels, motels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts annually lose $13 million in revenue to short-term rental scofflaws. That adds up to about $1.4 million in taxes and licensing fees the city fails to collect every year, they said.
Renting a property for fewer than 60 days in the French Quarter and 30 days in the rest of the New Orleans is prohibited by city ordinance. French Quarter resident Brian Furness said he recently found 561 short-term rentals advertised online, in apparent violation of the law.
These unlicensed, short-term rentals operate outside the rules, contributing not a cent to city coffers, he said. Hotel and motel taxes produce about $30 million annually, and a per-room hotel occupancy tax adds another $10 million to the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.
Critics also complained the rentals undermine neighborhoods by portraying them as tourism pit stops rather than residential enclaves. City Council President Stacy Head agreed.
"I do believe it deprives you of your property values in a city like New Orleans where your neighbors' behaviors impact your property so dramatically, " Head said.
Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer said the council has informed City Hall of residents' complaints in the past, but to no avail.
"This is something that is very frustrating," she said. "We do pass on to the administration and we do ask for follow-up and it does not happen."
Jared Munster, the acting director of the Safety & Permits Office, said enforcement is difficult because of the very nature of the short-term rental business. It's hard to tie anonymous online ads to actual properties, he said. When violators are actually tracked down, he said their most common response is they didn't know they were breaking the law.
Head called on the Landrieu administration to aggressively educate the public about the law, to hire administrators or solicit volunteers to help hunt down properties up for rent and possibly stage online stings to track down violators.
Meg Lousteau, VCPORA executive director, said her group is working with state Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, to increase the state-mandated $500 cap on fines.
Not all speakers Monday were detractors of the short-term rental practice, however. Lawyer James Uschold said it benefits some, like the film industry. He, too, called for better enforcement of laws, but said the city should make it legal for more property owners to rent their buildings. He questioned whether critics were just trying to tamp down competition.
In a more dramatic description of a short-term rental gone wrong, French Quarter resident Mercedes Whitecloud said a woman arrived at her door on Royal Street with keys in her hand and paperwork that showed she had rented out Whitecloud's apartment for the French Quarter Festival. She had been duped in a scam.
"This woman had taken the train from New Jersey for her week's vacation, spent her money and now didn't have a place to stay," she said.