February 5, 2018
Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore City Council is set to take up a bill imposing strict rules on short-term rentals made through Airbnb and other sites, sharply limiting people’s ability to rent out anything other than their home.
The proposed legislation would also impose the city’s 9.5 percent hotel tax on such rentals.
The bill is scheduled to be introduced Monday by Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and Councilman Eric Costello.
Airbnb and other platforms emerged as a way for people to rent out spare rooms in their homes but have also become a thriving market for vacation apartment rentals, creating a new industry of people who own property solely to rent through the sites.
That has irked the hotel and bed and breakfast industries, which argue that Airbnb hosts are skirting regulations and gaining an unfair advantage, but the proposed bill would likely upend the businesses of many of the hundreds of Airbnb hosts in Baltimore were it to pass.
—
Read the full article at baltimoresun.com