What's happening
The city launched an "overhaul" of several policies related to short-term rentals, or STRs, early this year. The process played out in response to some past legal challenges to Austin's STR system, and in an effort to rein in the thousands of unlicensed STRs believed to be operating around town.
City staff and officials said the newly enacted policies will make it easier for property owners to license and run STRs, while cracking down on nuisance rentals and collecting more tourism revenue for Austin along the way.
"Over the past several years, the program has been subjected to multiple lawsuits and court rulings that have impacted the enforceability of the existing regulations. In response, Council adopted recent changes to the STR regulations designed to improve compliance with licensing requirements, enhance the collection of Hotel Occupancy Tax, align regulations with recent court decisions, and encourage responsible STR ownership," staff wrote in a city agenda document.
To that end, council members advanced two contracts Nov. 20 meant to assist the city with its STR processes. The contracts, both with San Diego-based Deckard Technologies, include:
- Rental enforcement, for up to $1.72 million over five years
- Rental licensing services, for up to $745,000 over five years
Zooming in
Deckard was chosen to lead both projects through public solicitations this fall. The government data company beat out six other firms with a score of 52 out of 100 for the enforcement work and eight other firms with a score of 57 out of 100 for the licensing contract, city evaluations show.
Austin's STR enforcement will be updated soon, with the city moving to set an implementation plan with Deckard in the next few weeks. A new rental licensing system will take longer to implement, Searcy said, with no firm timeline set as of late November.
After the city set new requirements for rental listings on platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, increased enforcement will allow the city to more easily identify properties operating without a license and notify them about any potential issues. The Deckard contract will also provide "enhanced data and deeper insights into the STR market conditions and activity," according to city staff.
"By making it easier and faster for inspectors to identify addresses and property owners, code inspectors will be able to investigate violations and move to enforcement more quickly and effectively," Searcy said.
Changes to Austin's STR licensing will allow operators to complete payments, upload documents and update their personal information in one place, rather than having to work through email with longer wait times under current processes. The new self-service tools will result in a "more user-friendly, automated system," Searcy said.
More information about STRs in Austin is available online.
