Mayor pushes more restrictive short-term rental regulation

LACONIA — Faced with imposing a regulatory system for hundreds of short-term, Airbnb-type rentals, the City Council punted on Monday night and called for the rules to be written in a more restrictive way.

Mayor Ed Engler suggested that such rentals be prohibited outside The Weirs, although owner-occupied buildings in most areas would be exempt from this prohibition.

There was consensus on the council to proceed along the lines he suggested.

Engler said it was important to maintain the residential character of neighborhoods and essential to preserve housing stock — already in short supply — for people who live and work in the area.

“We have a part of our community that has been at the center of tourism in the state of New Hampshire for decades and decades and decades, but we’re also an old mill town, we’re a county seat town, we’re still the hub of industry in the Lakes Region. We have by far the largest employer in the Lakes Region in our city limits. We’re many things beyond just being a resort community,” the mayor said.

“There are those of us, and I’m certainly going to include myself in that measure, who don’t want to lose that sense of community we have. I don’t want to be Lake George, or wherever, where every building in town is for rent because our only reason for existing is to encourage tourism.”

New families

Councilor Robert Hamel backed up the mayor.

“We’re always saying we want to bring families in,” he said. “Manufacturers need people to work. They are dying for people to work around here. So now homes are being bought up for Airbnbs. Where’s a guy going to live? Where’s a guy going to bring his family? The cost will be more than they can afford.”

Engler said that when he moved into his home on Dartmouth Street 20 years ago, the neighborhood was full of kids.

“They were playing wiffle ball and who knows what,” he said. “They were bicycling up and down the street.

“Now there is one child, one child on the entire block. That’s not good and that’s not healthy and that’s one of the things we’re trying to turn around. If suddenly, the houses on either side of me become Airbnbs, that’s not going to help that at all. It makes it worse.”

Suggested regs

Engler also suggested that short-term lodging be defined as a rental of less than 90 consecutive days. In this way, someone would have more latitude in renting to a person on a temporary work assignment, such as a visiting nurse.

Owner-occupied buildings would be those where the owner lives on the premises for at least 150 days per year.

All short-term rental businesses in the city would have to obtain a permit under the terms and conditions suggested by the Planning Board, which would require a fee, an inspection, a ban on on-street parking and occupancy limits, among other things. Neighbors would have an ability to challenge such a permit.

Regulation now being considered, and likely to come up at the next council meeting, is much more restrictive than the proposal forwarded to the council by the Planning Board, under which owners would have a broad ability to rent out their properties throughout the year without regard to whether or not the structure was owner-occupied.

Go slow

During the council meeting, Councilor Henry Lipman said a slow approach on regulation may be in order given there that may be 200 to 300 short-term rentals operating in a city of 5,000 residences, and the vast majority of these rentals don't cause problems. 

Under current rules, these rentals are prohibited, except in The Weirs. However, the prohibition is not enforced unless someone complains.

Sara Rosenbloom, who lives on Old North Main Street, addressed the council and said there was a problematic short-term rental in her neighborhood owned by someone who lived out of town.

She said people do not buy into such neighborhoods with the expectation that there will be short-term rentals.

“What I think would solve this problem a little bit – and what I’ve seen in other places – is having a requirement that the person who is doing the rental, it’s their primary residence,” Rosenbloom said. “They would have some incentive to maintain standards to supervise the rental, to vet the people who come and rent and it would make them have an investment in the community and an investment in the neighborhood.”

Boosting tourism

Several people asked the council to consider the benefits of short-term rentals.

Marc Burrell said he operates a short-term rental out of his home on Warren Street.

He said people who own short-term rentals can do well by the community even if they don’t live locally.

“If I’m not living in the house, I still have a vested interest in the neighborhood because that house is making me money,” Burrell said.

“I do it to meet people around the world,” he said. “As you know, I’ve had people from around the world stay in the house. I just had people from the Netherlands. I’ve had people from everywhere. I have people from Israel coming next month.”

Problem-free rentals

Paula Hiuser said she has rented out her property 344 times over the last four years through Airbnb without a problem. She lives there when it is not being rented.

“In four years, there have been no issues at all,” she said. “Airbnb is a good platform. It encourages good behavior.”

She said that she understands concerns from people who have had a bad experience with a short-term rental but that such problems arise from irresponsible property owners, who can cause problems even if they are renting out a residence on a long-term basis.

Hiuser said tourists who stay in her property stimulate the local economy and might not come to the area if not for Airbnb.

“They are coming here because it’s a small community and a cute house and a cute little downtown and they are going to Wayfarer and Local and Patrick’s and all the other places we sent them out to,” she said.

“Airbnb has a very positive side to it. It’s a great community, I’m really proud to be part of that community. It’s a great opportunity for a lot of people to have a second property and maybe make some extra income as well.”

Kevin Morrissette said he has rented out a small home on Eastman Shore Road for 30 years, well before short-term rental marketing sites existed. He expressed concerns about regulatory changes that could affect him.

“It’s a nice little cabin on the lake that people love to rent out,” he said. “You come to the Lakes Region and there used to be all kinds of rentals on the lake, cabins and stuff at The Weirs and those things have just disappeared. We’ve had the same tenants for 20 years.

“It’s not like it’s just popped up two years ago.”

Airbnb stats

A Sept. 5 news release from Airbnb stated that its community of people offering properties for short-term rental in New Hampshire earned $22.2 million in supplemental income, while welcoming 149,400 guests to the state from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day.

Belknap County had 14,700 guest arrivals, resulting in $2.6 million in income for property owners.

“Throughout the summer of 2019, we have continued to see the significant, positive impact of our short-term rental community across New Hampshire. With more guest arrivals this summer than ever before, hosts and small businesses have been able to enjoy the opportunities created by an expanded tourism economy, while the state has benefited from additional tax revenue as a result of this growth,” said Josh Meltzer, head of Northeast public policy for Airbnb.

The state gets rooms tax from Airbnb rentals.

“As we mark yet another historic summer and look ahead, we hope to keep working with state government, as well as towns and cities statewide, to ensure short-term rentals can continue to play a strong role in the entire New Hampshire economy,” Meltzer said.

Laconia Planning Director Dean Trefethen said that in many ways, Laconia is sailing uncharted waters in seeking regulations on the fast-growing short-term rental industry, which has taken off in recent years with online marketing from companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo.

“We’ve been looking around at other communities and they haven’t come up with anything on this issue,” he said. “On the other hand, we’ve received several calls from other communities facing similar dynamics and at least considering our ideas.”