Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press 2015

PHOENIX — Saying a 2016 law hasn’t worked out as promised, a House panel voted 8-5 Wednesday to give cities more control of how and where vacation rentals operate.

House Bill 2481 would allow city and town councils to impose limits on how many people can be in a short-term rental based on the number of bedrooms.

Potentially more significant, Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said his legislation would permit cities to enact zoning restrictions that could limit the number of these short-term rentals in any one neighborhood — or entirely within the community’s borders.

The 2016 law barred cities and counties from enacting any new ordinances that limit short-term rentals. It also overruled any existing rules already in effect.

“It was sold as the elderly couple, empty nesters with the extra bedroom, who could make a few extra bucks renting out their room to tourists or whatever,” Kavanagh said. “That seemed benign.”

Airbnb is taking a proactive approach in preventing overcrowded parties this New Year. Source by: Stringr

“But in reality, short-term rentals are such that an investor can make far more money buying a house and renting it out as a hotel — as a horizontal, decentralized hotel — than renting the house out for long-term rental,” he said. Kavanagh said the same thing happened as apartment buildings were bought up to be converted to de-facto hotels.

“When the owner is not present, you have real problems” for neighbors, with no one there to monitor behavior and an inability to screen every prospective tenant, he said.

That isn’t the only issue.

Kavanagh said the law has created problems in places like Sedona, where he said 40% of the available rental units are now vacation properties, “driving up the prices of all rentals and making it impossible for city employees or even business employees, store employees, to live in the town.”

Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarity underscored the problem for the House Committee on Government and Elections. She said Sedona has 723 short-term rentals within the city limits and another approximately 400 just outside.

But Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, found the whole concept behind the bill offensive.

“Property and the ability to use one’s property to its fullest extent, and to the fullest enjoyment, is your right,” he said.

Hoffman said there are enough ordinances already in place to deal with “bad apples.”

Kavanagh disagreed. “There is not an absolute right to do whatever you want with your property,” he said, adding: “When you invest your life savings in home in a residential neighborhood, you have a right to make sure that it stays residential.”

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