Summit County Activates Short-Term Rental Permit System, Complaint Hotline & Responsible Agent Requisite
As online booking services like Airbnb and VRBO have risen in popularity, complaints from residents in Summit County, Colorado have likewise increased regarding noise, trash, parking and other neighborhood issues that arise from short-term rentals. It’s a set of circumstances facing many resort communities across the country. In response, the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners engaged in a comprehensive process in 2018 to develop and obtain approval for new regulations regarding short-term rentals in unincorporated Summit County. On December 18, 2018, the Board of County Commissioners voted to enact a new set of Summit County Short-Term Rental Regulations. In a Press Release, Commissioner Karn Stiegelmeier said: “[t]hese new regulations will help us better manage the impacts on our community…. Issues like trash, parking and noise have been getting out of hand, and we needed to put a system in place to protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods.” Summit County will continue providing updates on the new regulations via its short-term rental blog.
Do Summit County Short Term Rental Regulations Apply to Your Property?
The new Summit County Short-Term Rental Regulations require a Permit to be issued for any property that is:
- available for lease or exchange for a term of less than thirty (30) consecutive days; and
- is located outside the boundaries of a town in an unincorporated area of Summit County (like Copper Mountain, Dillon Valley, Keystone, Summit Cove, or Wildernest).
Otherwise, if you operate a short-term rental property inside the boundaries of an incorporated town (like Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco or Silverthorne), the short-term rental ordinance for that specific town would solely apply, and you would obtain a license from the applicable town.
Believe it or not, property location can be a subject of potential confusion in Summit County. For further information, please check out our recent post on How to Determine Which Rules Apply to Your Summit County Short-Term Rental.
Summit County Short Term Rental Permit
Application Now Available
Just a few days ago, Summit County announced that it had created a Short-Term Rental Permit Application page providing a thorough description of the process as well as a list of the necessary steps for preparing an Application. On or before June 1, 2019, property owners with short-term rental properties in unincorporated Summit County must submit the Application. To make the process a bit easier, Summit County has provided an Online Portal for Short-Term Rental Registration. On June 30, 2019, any short-term rental operating without a permit will be considered in violation of the Summit County Code.
The fee charged by Summit County for a new Short-Term Rental Permit Application will be $150. Any Short-Term Rental Permit issued in 2019 will be valid through Sept. 30, 2020. And then, Summit County will require annual renewal by Sept. 30 of each subsequent year. The annual renewal fee for a Short-Term Rental Permit will only be $75. County Staff also set up a separate web page with Tax Information for Short-Term Rental Owners in unincorporated Summit County.
A Short-Term Rental Permit is tied to an individual property and its specific owner. Accordingly, a Short-Term Rental Permit is non-transferable. If you sell your property, the new owner must complete their own application for a Short-Term Rental Permit.
Summit County Responsible Agent
The Summit County Short-Term Rental Regulations require each owner of a short-term rental property in unincorporated Summit County to designate a person or company to serve as their Responsible Agent. While an owner could possibly act as Responsible Agent, the Regulations also state that a Summit County Responsible Agent must be available 24 hours per day and 7 days per week to handle potential issues and violations related to their short-term rental properties. Furthermore, a Summit County Responsible Agent must be able to take action on complaints within just one hour of notification being sent. Finally, as part of that response, the Regulations also expressly provide that a Summit County Responsible Agent “shall respond to the complaint, including visiting the site if necessary.”
As an additional requirement, if Summit County issues a fire ban, the Regulations require a Responsible Agent to notify renters of the current fire restrictions and provide them with instructions on how to access the Summit County Alert System for real-time information during their stay.
With the foregoing in mind, one of the requirements in the Short-Term Rental Permit Application is for a short-term rental owner to designate who will serve as Responsible Agent for their property. That person must be available 24/7 to respond to complaints, and they must have a text-enabled phone.
Summit County Short Term Rental Complaint Hotline Launched
While launching its Short-Term Rental Permit process, Summit County simultaneously announced that its Complaint Hotline is now “live” and fully operational. A separate web page describes the process for submitting a Short-Term Rental Complaint in Summit County. Complaints can generally be submitted by calling the County’s hotline provider at 970-368-2044 or by submitting a complaint online.
Since anyone in unincorporated Summit County can now submit a complaint regarding a short-term rental property, the Planning Department also described how it will handle complaints that are submitted before the application deadline on June 1, 2019:
While the Summit County Short-Term Rental regulation program is in the implementation phase, between now and the June 1 application deadline, contact information for each Short-Term Rental property will be added into the system as permit applications are submitted. The Short-Term Rental Helper Hotline will field complaints and direct them to responsible agents whose contact information is in the system. Even if a permit application has not yet been submitted for a given property, all complaints will be logged and linked to the subject property, so any reported issues will be evaluated by County staff during the permit review process and discussed with the applicant.
We spoke with County administrative staff, and we concluded it’d be prudent to submit your Short-Term Rental Permit Application sooner, rather than later. If you immediately obtain your Permit and a complaint is submitted regarding your unit, the County’s Hotline will contact your responsible agent, and there will be an opportunity to quickly and successfully resolve it. If a complaints is submitted but thereafter is not handled by a responsible agent, it’s possible the complaint itself will escalate with greater consequences for the property or its neighbors. And, when the short-term rental owner does eventually submit their Application, the unresolved complaint is likely to lead to an additional conversation with the County about the complaint before Summit County approves the Application and issues a Permit.
Post-Application Short Term Rental Steps
- Printing and Posting within Your Short-Term Rental Property: You must post the following documents prominently your Short-Term Rental property:
- Your Short-Term Rental Permit
- Good Neighbor Guidelines (Fill in unit occupancy limit in the “Maximum Capacity” section)
- Your County-approved parking plan
- Your County-approved trash disposal and collection plan
- Permit number posting: Post your Summit County Short-Term Rental Permit number in your unit.
- Advertising requirements: Short-Term Rental owners must include the permit number, maximum occupancy and maximum parking on all online or print advertising. The permit number must be provided after the property description.
In the most cost-effective way possible, Summit Local Agent aims to help you comply with the County’s new Regulations, by serving as your Summit County Responsible Agent.
