By Melissa Rosequist | YourValley
A new bill has passed the Arizona Legislature giving municipalities authority to issue licenses and permits to short-term rentals.
Senate Bill 1168, which passed the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives on June 24, is supported by both the short-term rental industry and local cities.
The bill is now in the hands of Gov. Doug Ducey to sign. According to officials at the Town of Paradise Valley, where short-term rentals are numerous, SB1168 grants cities and towns the authority to issue short-term rental licenses or permits, and within guidelines, allows suspension of those permits for up to a year.
The bill was sponsored by J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, and co-sponsored by Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix.
“While the bar is very high to suspend STRs, cities and towns do not take this new authority lightly, just as we do with all of our land use permits,” said Town Manager Jill Keimach. “We anticipate that our new enforcement power to suspend will make a difference for owners and/or managers who repeatedly bring bad actors into our neighborhoods. While we can always use more tools and stronger enforcement regulations, we’re happy to have some new tools to attempt to better safeguard our community.”
Keimach says more information will be shared as the town puts a local framework into place to leverage these new tools across Paradise Valley.
