Newly approved short-term rental policy in Meredith lowers requirements, fees

MEREDITH — An updated short-term rental policy was unanimously approved by the selectboard Aug. 10, including removing some requirements and reducing licensing fees for owners living on the property.

The selectboard held a public hearing on Aug. 10, which began with Planner Angela LaBrecque saying amendments included removing the plot plan and the New Hampshire Meals and Rooms Tax license number requirements. The plot plan was deemed to be redundant, and the tax license number the responsibility of state staff.

At the previous meeting, the selectboard reviewed the current status of short-term renting license requirement and the town’s experience working through applications. The short-term rental committee recommended the items be removed from the application checklist to make the process smoother.

The plot plan was removed because the information is already available to the town in their assessing data and files, LaBrecque said. The removal of the requirement to provide a tax license number issued by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration doesn’t absolve anyone from having to pay taxes, but it's not enforced by town staff, and also not issued to specific properties being rented.

“It’s issued to the rental company managing the rental,” LaBrecque said. “So, Airbnb gets their own number, and they may have 25 properties in Meredith, so that would really be the exact same number being entered over and over into the various licenses."

She said the owners-in-residence fee would be $200, different from the $400 fee for other renters.

“That would be, in part, to the fee originally being based on the average nightly rental of short-term rentals in Meredith,” LaBrecque said. “That widely ranges, and $400 was where the selectboard and the committee landed. The average nightly rental is higher than that, but it was a range that was recommended.”

Owners-in-residence will now pay $200, as they rent less than an entire home. She also said compliance issues that may go along with a short-term rental likely don't exist, like noise, parking, and trash.

Karin Nelson was the first member of the public to speak at the meeting, and had also spoken at past meetings, saying those who rent out a room in their home don’t impact the town negatively. She said they are always around when the guests are there, typically staying for a night for a wedding or concert. Nelson said there has been no issue with trash, as the guest refuse goes out with their own trash. She said parking is below her house on Barnard Ridge Road, located off the street.

“There is a significant difference in what we do, and someone renting an entire home and is an absentee owner,” Nelson said. Nelson is a member of The Sun advertising staff.

Scott Rosenthal, of Carlton Road, said last year, when this first came up, Fire Chief Ken Jones discussed KnoxBox kits. Rosenthal suggested giving someone who installed the KnoxBox a year without the fee, to encourage operators to purchase them.

Jones said the price of a KnoxBox has “drastically increased," to a little over $500, and comes from California.

“All KnoxBoxes throughout this community are key to [leave] one emergency key in which we have, so we can get in, making entry to any residential or commercial building without doing damage,” Jones said.

Jones said the department prefers to have them on all commercial properties, if possible, as well as residential homes with monitored fire alarms. He said he discussed with Fire Inspector Gary Pariseau having these on short-term rentals, so if something were to happen, firefighters can make entry.

Judith Van Velsor, a resident of Cavalry Street, read there were 150 property owners with active listings, but only 41 licenses have been issued. Out of the 41 licensed, only four are owners-in-residence, showing the majority of operators are those who don’t live there, and she isn't a fan.

She wondered, based on these statistics, if this meant there are more than 100 people unlicensed and not inspected. Selectboard Chair Steve Aiken said he didn’t know where they were in the process of licensing.

LaBrecque said there is short-term rental software tracking rental properties in town. She said 150 is an approximation based on total short-term rentals, provided through the software. LaBrecque said the software scrubs hundreds of websites daily, and adds ones that come on, and deletes others that have come off.

“Initially, only one letter went out, and we gave time for properties to get their special exceptions, because what happened is we had a high call volume of people saying, ‘I got this letter. I guess I need to do this licensing,’” LaBrecque said. “The far majority said ‘no.’ That’s at least a month process.”

LaBrecque said a special exception is needed for a land use approval through the zoning board, required of any short-term rental unless it's been grandfathered in. The town has a list of all grandfathered properties, as well as those with special exceptions.

“It’s a little disturbing to me, as a property owner, that there are over 100 out there that haven’t been inspected by the fire department,” Van Velson said.

Van Velson thought the town should require the Meals and Rooms tax, but Aiken said anyone who uses a rental agency has this already. He said it is not the town staff’s responsibility to keep track of it.

The selectboard did not have any comments following the hearing, and voted 5-0 to accept the amended policy.