State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Kingston, is pictured speaking during a public appearance. Submitted photo

Short-term rental owners may be looking at additional state oversight and tax collection.

State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Kingston, has introduced legislation (S.885) to create a registration system for short-term rentals in New York state and allow for the collection of sales and occupancy taxes generated from the rentals by the state and local municipalities.

Short-term rentals have been a topic of discussion by town and village board members throughout Chautauqua County in recent years, with some towns implementing moratoriums on new short-term rentals. In Chautauqua County, any short-term rental — including hotels, motels, and private rentals — are subject to the county’s 5% occupancy tax. According to Liz DeBold Fusco with Western New York Airbnb, in 2019 there were 15,400 guests to Chautauqua County using Airbnb, generating $2.1 million to their hosts. That would mean that Airbnb properties should have paid $105,000 in occupancy tax. In 2019 the county collected $1,859,175, up $116,844 from the prior year. However, county officials said the bulk of the receipts come from the larger hotels and motels.

” Municipalities need better tools to understand how this economic driver can help, without displacing local residents and compounding an already growing problem all in the name of profit. Additionally, many of these same municipalities have been forced to spend significant resources to manage their short-term rental issues, often leaving neighboring towns with differing regulations. This causes confusion among homeowners, visitors and law enforcement and forces municipalities to spend resources they often don’t have in order to protect their residents. This legislation, for the first time, develops statewide guidance on short-term rentals, including a rental registry, in order to give municipalities the information and the revenue they need to make smart decisions to help right-size the short-term rental market in their specific communities.”

Hinchey’s legislation would impose several standards on the short-term rental industry, including requiring emergency evacuation diagrams; emergency phone numbers for area fire and police departments as well as poison control; a working fire extinguisher; and insurance covering the value of the dwelling as well as at least $300,000 coverage for third party claims that arise from the operation of the short-term rental.

Short-term rental hosts would be required to keep guest records for at least two years that include the date of each stay, number of guests, cost for each stay — including any taxes — and registration records. Short-term rental owners would also have to register with the state Department of State, which would share the records with the county, town, city or village governments upon request.

Booking services would also be required to keep similar information, and would not be able to collect a fee for facilitating booking transactions unless the short-term rental unit and its owner or tenant have a state or local registration. Booking services that don’t comply could be fined $200 per violation. Anyone who runs a short-term rental unit and who does not register could face a $200 fine per day.

“New York state is facing a dire shortage of housing supply, specifically affordable and workforce housing, which is causing instability across our communities,” Hinchey wrote. “While solving the housing crisis will take significant investment and bold legislative action, one area of housing policy that must be addressed is the extreme proliferation of short-term rentals. Municipalities across upstate New York saw a record influx of relocated residents and visitors alike, with Hudson and Kingston becoming the top two moved-to-places in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. For many, the ability to welcome visitors for short-term stays has been a welcomed source of income, and for our smaller cities and towns, increased tourism has bolstered their economies. However, while this resurgence played a significant, and unforeseen, role in supporting our Main Streets and providing additional income streams for local residents, it also caused an already precarious housing market to become nearly non-existent and has since turned good housing stock into vacation rentals taking these homes off the market indefinitely.”