Rocky Top OKs rules for Airbnb-style rentals
Property owners who want to list their homes and other living quarters for short-term housing rentals must obtain a license to do so from the city of Rocky Top beginning July 1, the City Council decided last week.
The measure, which applies to holiday rentals such as those listed through the popular Airbnb and Vrbo online services, requires the property owners to pay $100 for the initial application and first-year permit, then they must renew the permit annually at the same rate.
Those property owners who already have short-term rentals available in Rocky Top will be given an extra 30 days to get their permits, the ordinance says.
Rocky Top’s council approved the ordinance 4-0 on second and final reading last Thursday night (with one council member absent). There were no residents in attendance at the meeting, so there was no public input on the measure.
The council unanimously passed the proposed ordinance (5-0) on first reading on April 21, also with no input from residents. That was the opposite of what happened when a similar measure passed recently in Norris, where the council meeting room was full of people mostly opposing the measure allowing short-term rentals.
Short-term rentals are defined by Tennessee law as being overnight accommodations, other than hotel and bed-and-breakfast lodgings, of at least one night, but no longer than 30 nights.
Such rentals have become popular worldwide through such online services as Airbnb and Vrbo (Vacation Rental by Owner).
Tennessee law does not permit cities or counties to ban such rentals, but it does allow private homeowners’ associations to prohibit them.
Rocky Top’s short-term rental ordinance will require only one permit per property, rather than per unit. City officials said some existing properties contain more than one residential unit.
Rental units will be inspected for safety, and will be required to have fire, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and fire extinguishers.
Owners and operators designated by property owners will be required to be able to respond to problems and emergencies within two hours, with designated contacts available by phone to renters at all hours of every day.
Each applicant “must provide a valid Anderson County/Campbell County and City of Rocky Top Business License,” the ordinance states. The owners/operators also must pay all “applicable taxes, including, but not limited to, Hotel Occupancy Privilege Tax, local option sales tax, and gross receipts tax to the city, sales tax to the State of Tennessee, and gross receipts tax to the State of Tennessee,” the ordinance says.
Maximum occupancy allowed will be “four transients per bedroom.