Santa Fe to deploy software to find unlicensed short‑term rentals; 250 listings flagged

The Santa Fe Finance Committee heard on Oct. 6 that the city has completed data transfers and initial scrubbing for new short‑term rental (STR) enforcement and lodgers‑tax software and will begin compliance outreach in the coming weeks.

Assistant Land Use Director Maggie Moore told the committee the city and its consultant team at Avenue (recently merged into a company called Numo) have identified roughly 250 potentially noncompliant properties from scraped listings on more than 80 advertising sites. "We've identified about 250 noncompliant properties, and we're going to be issuing compliance letters to those properties in the coming weeks," Moore said. The short‑term rental component of the software is on track, Moore and the vendor said, to go live on or around Nov. 10.

Why it matters: city officials said the tool will let staff monitor listings in near real time, target enforcement where listings appear, and improve collection of lodgers tax revenue that the city says is currently underreported. Officials also said public access to a map of licensed and registered short‑term rentals will give residents clearer information about where legally operating STRs are located.

Staff described the basic rollout and public outreach: two public town halls on Nov. 13 (a lunchtime webinar and an in‑person meeting at the Santa Fe Convention Center) to explain the registration and licensing process for owners and operators, plus a later public session for the tax‑administration module in January. Mayor/department staff will record the webinar and post it to the city website.

The software vendor demonstrated a staff dashboard that shows both listings and property records, complaint history and photographic evidence scraped from listing sites. Vendor project manager Dana said the system can be configured for application workflows (registration, renewal and automated review) and for tax reporting, and that the short‑term rental portion of the system is close to ready: "We are on track to be able to go live by November 10," Dana said.

City code and tax issues discussed

Moore and vendor staff said the dashboard will track both listings and properties; a single property listed across multiple platforms will appear as multiple listings but is linked to one property record. Moore told the committee the dashboard currently shows the department’s overall compliance grade as a C and staff are aiming for an A.

The committee asked how enforcement and public complaints will be handled. Carol (tax administration/finance staff) said complaints will be logged through a 24/7 phone line that routes to a live operator and then into a ticketing system for staff assignment: "It is a live operator; they'll receive all of the complaints or concerns and they'll be categorized for city staff," she said.

Moore said the system will publish a map of licensed and registered short‑term rentals but will not publish a map of noncompliant properties. She also noted that the city’s ordinance limits certain STRs outside the BCD (Business/Commercial District) and outside commercial zones to a cap of 1,000; staff said the city is currently slightly under that cap but warned that if many noncompliant properties are located in capped zones, some may not be able to obtain permits even after enforcement outreach.

Tax administration component will run later and extend into 2026; staff said that side involves bank and payment integrations and will be the subject of a separate rollout. Finance Director Oster reminded the committee that there is a legal distinction for gross‑receipts taxation depending on whether a stay is shorter or longer than 30 days; she said that distinction will be part of public guidance when the tax component is rolled out.

What happens next

Staff said they will send compliance letters to the roughly 250 properties identified by the data scrub and invite operators to register or apply for a license. Town halls are scheduled for Nov. 13 (12:30–1:30 p.m. webinar and an evening session at the Santa Fe Convention Center) to introduce owners, operators and the public to the system. Staff also said they expect to train internal users on reporting and enforcement workflows before public launch of the short‑term rental module.

Speakers quoted in this article spoke at the Oct. 6 Finance Committee meeting. Direct data excerpts and statements come from that meeting’s presentation and the vendor demonstration.