The council approved rules that mandate the short-term rental company disclose information about hosts.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
The council approved rules that mandate the short-term rental company disclose information about hosts.
OregonLive.com said one member of the council didn’t want to adopt a “big-stick approach” as Airbnb released a statement denouncing the decision:
“Internet companies cannot enforce local zoning and housing laws or disregard their users’ privacy,” the company said in a prepared statement.
Commissioners Dan Saltzman, Steve Novick and Nick Fish voted to compel booking agents like Airbnb to disclose who rents rooms to short-term guests and where the rooms are located. It also requires the booking agents to insist their hosts obtain permits and display them as part of their online listings.
In addition to forcing the company to disclose host information, those hosts will have to secure permits to operate within the city.
Only about 7 percent of Airbnb’s several hundred Portland hosts have sought permits to use their properties for the bed-and-breakfast style operations since Portland legalized such activities last year.
The Portland Bureau of Development Services issues those permits and enforces the city’s rules. However, it has a laissez-faire approach, only intervening if a neighbor files a complaint against an errant host who failed to get a permit.
The Revenue Bureau promises to provide stricter enforcement, and is expected to provide the names of local hosts to the Bureau of Development Services.
Read more at the Portland Tribune.
