The Town of Truckee has joined the list of regions around Lake Tahoe to put the brakes on Short Term Rentals (STRs), with a moratorium on new applications for STR permits that runs through June 15, 2022.
Amid complaints that short-term rentals are eroding the peace and character of Tahoe/Truckee's neighborhoods and depleting the supply of affordable workforce housing, the Town of Truckee joins Placer County and several other regions in an effort to slow the growth of STRs (rentals of 30 days or less).
No new Placer County rental permits till April 2022
The Placer County moratorium was approved during the summer of 2021, and extended by an August 31 Board of Supervisors decision till April 1, 2022. It effectively halts new applications for STRs in most of Lake Tahoe's north and west shores on the California side, all the area's major ski resorts, including Northstar, Squaw, Alpine, and Sugarbowl, as well as parts of Truckee and Donner Summit.
During that time, county officials plan to explore a longer-term approach to managing STRs, which could include "caps" on the number of short-term rentals that would be allowed in certain neighborhoods, according to the county staff report.
Placer County (highlighted above here) encompasses much of North Lake Tahoe
Radical though it might seem, the moves to restrict short-term rentals is just the latest in a series of neighborhood backlashes against STRs that began with a South Lake Tahoe measure to ban short-term rentals in all but their tourist core. As the popularity of short-term rentals grows with online bookings and little local control over who is renting, other parts of Tahoe have followed suit.
In Incline Village, on the Nevada side of North Shore, more than 50 condo associations now ban rentals of less than 30 days. And the county had proposed last year that short term rentals be limited to a "minimum" of 6 days with a property being allowed to rent no more than nine months out of the year (the three months of non-STR use could be spaced out over the year in one-month blocks, and Washoe County indicated that it would monitored and enforced).
3-Strikes Rules in Truckee & Tahoe Donner
In Truckee & Tahoe Donner (Truckee's largest subdivision) new rules have set up a hotline for complaints against STRs. Excess noise, parking violations, and risky behavior can get a slap on the wrist, a fine, or potentially cause an owner to lose the right to short term rent their home or condo. Some say those rules have not gone far enough, and the Placer County report said that the Town of Truckee is looking into stricter rules for short-term rentals.
The report said Tahoe Truckee business owners are having trouble finding and keeping employees because housing prices have skyrocketed, and the post-Covid demand for vacation rentals has inspired some buyers to purchase homes strictly for short-term rental use, elbowing out long-term renters.
"The condition has reached a crisis level with reports of local workers sleeping in their cars or traveling significant distances to work in the Basin," the report said. "In addition, local employers are having trouble recruiting workers because of the lack of affordable housing, much less any housing."
Lake Tahoe: Median Home Sales Price Rises to $1 million
The pace of sales at the Lake was also stronger in the 1st half of 2021 than ever before. Volume tripled to almost $1.3 billon, with the number of units sold increasing 65 percent over last year.
"The current real estate boom is also resulting in existing housing stock being purchased by individuals and companies for the express purpose of establishing an STR, and those selling homes are marketing as income-generating due to an STR permit," the report said.
Today, all of Placer County has 2,350 legally permitted STRs and 400 to 500 that are operating without a permit. The permits have to be renewed annually, and the county points out that they do not run with the land (ie: someone who buys an STR needs to apply for anew permit).
Please feel free to call or email me if you need info on specific neighborhoods ~ Jackie
Posted by Jackie Ginley on
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