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6/13/2024
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Legislators approve bill to collect more housing information through short-term rental registry
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STATE HOUSE – The General Assembly has approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Lauren H. Carson and Sen. Victoria Gu aimed at providing the state with more specific information about properties that are being offered as short-term rentals.
The legislation (2024-H 8182A, 2024-S 2187A), which now goes to the governor, expands the information the state collects during the state registration process for short-term rentals to include whether the property is owner-occupied, whether the rental unit is an entire house, a condominium or a room, and the number of properties the owner is offering for short-term rental on the platform.
The legislation also changes the registration from a one-time process to one that requires annual registration, and clarifies that all properties must be registered with the state before they are offered for rent on any hosting platform.
“Now that we’ve had a few years of experience with registration, we can see there’s room for improvement in our systems for tracking short-term rentals. With the depth of our state’s housing crisis, we should know how many homes have moved out of our housing supply to be used solely as rentals, and how many rentals are really only a room whose rental might be helping the occupant pay their mortgage or rent so they can stay housed. Collecting and analyzing this data will help us ensure that our tax policies are equitable and that the growth of this industry doesn’t come at the expense of Rhode Islanders’ ability to find a home,” said Representative Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport), who is the chairwoman of a special commission that is studying issues related to short-term rentals.
Said Senator Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown), “Collecting more specific information will make the state registration more effective at providing the data we need to protect public safety, economic fairness and transparency, and will help provide insight into the short-term rental industry’s impact in Rhode Island. We can create sound, fair housing and hospitality laws when we have a clearer picture of how many of the short-term rentals being offered in Rhode Island are properties that would otherwise represent a permanent home, and how many are not.”
In April, the Special Legislative Commission to Review and Provide Recommendations for Policies that Deal with Numerous Economic and Social Short-Term Rentals Issues that Representative Carson leads issued an interim report that noted a lack of coordination between the state registration system and the handful of municipal registration systems around the state, as well as a lack of transparency in the way short-term rental platforms remit the hotel, sales and municipal taxes they collect and submit on behalf of property owners.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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