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Washington City considers tighter short‑term rental rules, local manager licensing and fines
Summary
Councilors and staff discussed requiring verified local points of contact or licensed property managers, adding transient-room‑tax proof to the code, and a stepped penalty (including $750/day) for noncompliant short‑term rental listings; staff will return with draft code amendments.
Washington City officials discussed proposed code changes on March 12 that would tighten enforcement of short‑term rental rules, require verifiable local contact information and allow new enforcement tools tied to state law. City Recorder Tera Pence said the draft would require owners or property managers to submit proof of transient room tax remittance and a verifiable address and phone number for a local contact or manager.
The changes respond to ongoing compliance problems city staff described, including listings that advertise occupancy far above the building code limit. “It is we are getting flooded with emails every day of links of units that are advertising for 15, 16, 30,” Pence said, adding the International Building Code limits unsprinklered units to 10 occupants. She told councilors staff have seen listings that advertised up to 45 people in an unsprinklered unit.
The draft would also require owners or their designated points of contact to provide a transient‑room‑tax remittance form from hosting platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO. Pence said that form is available from the state and that owners or managers who use platforms “will give it to them.”
Councilors focused on whether a point of contact who is a family member should be required to obtain a Washington City business license. Pence noted the city charges $50 for a business license and described a local property‑management requirement that a manager or point of contact be verifiable and located in Washington County. “If they don't provide the information you ask, we will not pass it through if they don't provide it,” Pence said.
Council members also discussed enforcement steps and penalties in the draft. Pence described a proposed process that would give owners 30 days to come into compliance and then impose a civil citation; she said the draft currently includes a $750‑per‑day fine for continued violations. “We give them 30 days to come into compliance and then just every single day that they aren't, it's $750 per day,” Pence said.
Several councilors said they supported requiring property‑management firms that manage Washington City short‑term rentals to obtain a Washington City business license so the city has an accountable local entity to contact. Councilman Belliston said he favored the added documentation “as long as that point of contact is verifiable, their phone number, their address so they can be contacted.”
Staff asked for direction and said they would return with the draft ordinance and edits at the regular meeting on March 26. The city attorney and staff noted that recent state legislation (HB256) provides new procedural authority to use online listings as supporting evidence for enforcement when the city has additional corroborating information, but staff stressed the law requires additional evidence beyond a listing itself before removal requests to platforms.
Council members did not adopt the ordinance on March 12; rather they signaled general support and asked staff to prepare formal amendments for a future meeting. Ending: Staff will bring updated code language and an implementation plan back to council on March 26 for formal action.
