Submitted by unenlightenedgoblin t3_11ef5gc in pittsburgh
I don't think that's impractical at all.
At one of my old jobs, I constantly dealt with short-term and long-term rental owners, and far too many of them lived not just outside the neighborhood, but outside the state. Those folks were doing a huge disservice to the renters and to the community at large. They had all but abdicated any responsibility that comes with homeownership, but still were allowed to profit from it and artificially shrinking the housing market, to boot.
I would take it farther and restrict short-term AirBnb-style rentals to only your primary residence. If you want to rent out a whole building like that, get the proper license. Speculation makes it attractive to just buy up a bunch of properties and rent them out based on the minimum requirements you can get away with, so raising those minimum requirements off the floor is where we have to start.
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At the very least, they should subject to the same taxes and fees imposed on hotels. Therefore, the community has some positive impact to offset lower property values, nuisance, and lack of affordable housing
There is a need for improved regulations for short term rentals, but I believe this aspect is already addressed - Occupancy tax collection and remittance by Airbnb in Pennsylvania
Agree with this, taxed the same and held to the same or similar level of building code. You want to do short term rentals, fine upgrade the property to conform with the same electric and fire codes as the hotel you’re competing against.
Can you post another link to the form? It appears broken on mobile.
I live next to an Airbnb. It is truly the worst neighbor experience I've ever had. You never know what kind of person/group you'll get. Despite having a lot on the back side of the house, the owners tell renters to park on the street in the front (parallel parking). Needless to say, many of these people do not park courteously and take up much needed space. They are quite noisy and on several occasions we have had issues with the guy managing the property (not the owner) improperly disposing of garbage.
The noise is something I expect living in the city. But not knowing who my new neighbor might be every weekend is not a fun experience.
Same!! The noise is worse because everyone staying there is on vacation so they don't give af that isn't a Tuesday. They're smoking a blunt on the porch and laughing until 4 am. And the parking...I've given up. I call the cops and have them ticketed and towed. The police are 100% on your side as soon as you mention it's an Airbnb
Sorry about mobile, I think it may have to do with the question format. Most of the questions are 'grid' style where the same responses are presented for a series of related questions. I can see how this would be difficult to show on mobile. The alternative would have required participants to answer many more individual questions so I erred on the side of keeping the survey as short as possible (which seems to have screwed over mobile users)
What are you using the survey for?
Good question! So far there aren't a ton of responses, but I'm hoping to bring the results with me to the next community meeting, and to eventually work with our city councilperson to help draft policy responses that are responsive to local opinions and needs. The reason I'm interested in this particular issue is that it seems to have a lot of general consensus across different constituencies, but the survey provides better local insight than my anecdotal observations, or national studies.
I think there should be a special permit for short term rentals, all of them should be on a publicly viewable list and there should be a mechanism for reporting violations and complaints that can result in the permit being taken away.
There was a giant party at the Airbnb next door a few months ago. I knew council had proposed some regulations after the shooting on the north side. One of the cops that i called responded to that shooting and still didn't know the how to handle the noise violation and how those new ordinances were to be enforced.
They are scum . The owners are capitalists. This is why shitty moldy apartments in Pittsburgh cost $ 2500 and smell like piss
I had a vacancy I was trying to fill in a duplex over on Tryo Hill and probably 50% of the interest I received was from 3rd parties who wanted to rent from me and then sublet to short term renters.
I only talked to the first two before I realized this was a thing but they stated they are managing several properties in Troy Hill, Deutchtown, and Central Northside which gave me the impression this was somewhat popular and growing.
Home owners hate it bc they say it’s a nuisance but homeowners also don’t realize how much Airbnb has inflated the value of their homes. It’s a catch 22.
Personally I think units shouldn’t be allowed to be hotels. A house should only be allowed to be rented for a % amount of time a year if it’s a STR, not long term rental.
Yes and no. I have a feeling i will have a very difficult time selling if buyers realized who the "neighbors" are. I intentionally didn't buy a house next to a hotel i don't know who would want to?
Right. Your individual case may be a detriment but overall airbnbs have removed a lot of supply from the market which increases demand and therefore prices.
Yes, so Airbnb increases overall prices, just not the ones in the immediate vicinity of the actual Airbnb. I get it. And overall i don't think increased property values are a good thing. It screws over everyone except property owners looking to sell....but then they have to buy....so
Well even in that example the owner still gets the benefit of higher home prices caused by Airbnb but might also dinged for being next to one. Could be a wash.
But yes I agree unaffordable housing is a real problem. Not a good thing at all.
Hi! Already completed the survey, but really enjoyed seeing the aggregated responses to date. There was a link at completion, but it doesn't seem to be available unless you complete it again. Can you share that link?
I will re-share results on this thread once it’s been up for at least 24 hours
Jmyles23 t1_jadmfjt wrote
I think they should be limited to local ownership. For example, if you live within 3 miles of the location you’re renting out. But I know that’s impractical to expect.