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City explains rental-registration program and use of vendor to detect short-term rentals
Summary
Supervisor Heather Lanham described the rental-registration inspection program—aimed at creating direct contact with owners—and said the city uses a vendor, Amari, to find short-term rentals advertised on platforms such as Airbnb; as of May 15 there were 2,170 registered rental properties.
Heather Lanham said the rental-registration program’s core goal is to establish a communication channel with property owners so the city can get better compliance from landlords rather than tenants. “Really what it boils down to is we want to have a way to open a line of communication with the people who own the properties, not the people who are renting the properties,” Lanham said.
Lanham explained how the city identifies rentals: the water-department application captures rental data in two fields, code officers report suspected rentals and citizens can submit tips. She gave a specific count: “As of May 15, we had 2,170 registered properties in the city,” Lanham said.
On short-term rentals, she described the city’s contract with a data vendor: “We hire a company called Amari. They scrape the Internet for people who are advertising through Airbnb,” she said, while noting that some listings now hide exterior photos and platforms limit discoverability, which complicates detection and verification.
Lanham advised residents to call the code office or use the reporting app when they suspect a short-term rental at an address; staff will attempt to verify registration status and then pursue compliance steps if a property is not registered. The city did not announce changes to registration rules at the meeting.
