Compliance is nothing new in the vacation rental industry, but recently it has taken a surprising twist. To identify vacation rental homeowners who are not paying lodging taxes, several Colorado towns have resorted to a controversial high-tech tool known as “scraping.” The towns have engaged a company that uses computer software to extract information from vacation rental websites, which is then compared to municipal databases to identify non-compliant vacation rental homeowners.
Homeaway, parent of VRBO, has taken an aggressive position on this issue arguing that “scraping” violates a “fundamental privacy right” between the company and the homeowners who advertise on its sites.
Setting aside for a moment the ethical and legal issues, this clearly signals that local governments are prepared to consider extraordinary means to identify vacation rental homeowners who have not obtained business licenses to rent their property and are not paying lodging taxes. As municipalities struggle to balance budgets they are increasingly concerned about losing tax and license revenues from the growing number of owner-managed vacation rentals.
The days of vacation rental homeowners flying under the radar and ignoring state and local laws and ordinances are clearly numbered. Given local governments increased attention to this issue and the associated penalties, the risk of non-compliance is simply too great to ignore.
At VRS we know that compliance is a hassle for busy homeowners. We also accept that it has become a requirement of vacation rentals, which is why we offer a Rental Compliance plan. This is an affordable way for you to comply with local and state tax codes, and reporting requirements. For a low monthly fee of $65, VRS will ensure that your property is compliant with state and local vacation rental ordinances.
