Summit County is working to enforce short-term rental regulations with a new tracking software intended to identify all listings within the county, in addition to launching a 24-hour complaint hotline.
The Summit County Council last year allocated funds to create a code enforcement position dedicated to nightly rentals, which are often listed on websites like Airbnb and VRBO. Scott Buchanan, who was hired for the job in March, has since rolled out multiple programs to find short-term rentals in Summit County, determine whether they’ve obtained the proper licensing and provide support to concerned residents.
Buchanan said the first significant enforcement step was the county’s decision to partner with a software company called Azora.
“They help to surface all the nightly rental activity in a community, and they do that by looking at the different hosting services, like Airbnb or VRBO,” he explained. “They’re able to verify which ones actually exist in a community and, simultaneously, what we’re doing is comparing that against the properties we have properly licensed here in Summit County.”
Buchanan said he’s been working with Azora to identify unlicensed nightly rentals for the past three months, and the county has now either communicated or attempted to communicate with all unlicensed operators to request they obtain the proper permits.
Overall, Buchanan said he’s reached out to the owners of roughly 800 units, and about 350 of those have either applied for a business license or told the county they’re choosing to no longer operate as a rental.
“We have another half still to tackle this year from a more formal enforcement perspective,” Buchanan said. “The next step will be mailing out what are called notices of violation. This is part of a civil process that we have here as part of our code enforcement function in Summit County.”
Operators who aren’t in compliance with the county’s requirements will receive the notice in the mail and have an opportunity to dispute the violation by scheduling a hearing. If that happens, the county will use the proof it’s collected with Azora, such as the online listing and tax data, to show the owner has been operating without a business license.
“Operating a business without a license in Summit County carries a $1,000 per-day fine associated with that,” Buchanan said. “Ultimately, if the fines don’t resolve it, then there are some criminal procedures because it’s a misdemeanor to operate a business without a license as well.”
Buchanan said the county’s preference is to stick with civil proceedings rather than pursuing criminal charges, especially because the purpose of the enforcement program is to bring people into compliance, not to shut down nightly rentals.
The County Council was also interested in launching a short-term rental complaint hotline, which officially debuted last week. The hotline is also part of the Azora software package, and complaints are directed to a call center that’s staffed with employees who have been specifically trained to handle calls from the Summit County community.
“Because this call center is part of Azora, they have all the emergency contact information for all of our properly licensed nightly rentals in Summit County,” Buchanan said. “If somebody calls and explains that they have some sort of problem that is something that could be dealt with, depending on what it is, then it’s possible for the call center staff to reach out to the property owner and ask them to resolve whatever the situation may be.”
Buchanan said the only type of complaint that shouldn’t be directed to the call center is noise, which should be reported to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
With the Sundance Film Festival this weekend, Airbnb has also reminded its patrons that parties are banned from rental properties in an effort to cut down on complaints.
“Airbnb enforces a year-round global ban on disruptive parties and uses machine-learning-powered reservation screening to help prevent higher-risk bookings,” the company said in a statement. “That screening will be active throughout the festival. As of the end of 2024, Airbnb has seen a 59% decrease in party reports in nearby Arizona since 2020.”
Buchanan said his goal for the next few months is to continue partnering with Azora to bring operators into compliance with the county’s licensing requirements and to monitor and collect data regarding the complaints reported to the call.
“When we have more data, (the County Council) can make more informed decisions relating to possible changes to our county ordinances and nightly rentals,” Buchanan said. “That’s the broad idea here. This should allow us to have a better understanding of the nature and volume of community concerns by capturing it in this way.”
Information on the Nightly Rental Concerns Hotline is available online at summitcountyutah.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/633. Anyone with complaints should call 435-615-3924 to speak with an operator.