Putnam Valley Officials Continue Debate on Airbnb
Putnam Valley town officials debated potential regulations for Airbnb at the March 20 town board meeting.
Putnam Valley Town Assessor Sheryl Luongo and Assistant Assessor Anthony Toteda provided their opinions on regulating Airbnbs last week.
“We’ve both been in real estate our entire adult lives,” Luongo told the town board.
“Real estate law does not permit for daily rentals,” Toteda said, adding the minimum rental for a private home to meet the law is 30 days. “As a resident, I don’t want to see abuses of Airbnb,” he said.
Airbnb began with homeowners renting out a room in their residence on a room-sharing basis while they continued to live in it, Toteda said. Now, entire homes are being rented out by investors who do not live in them, he said. “Airbnb has always been in a grey zone whether it’s legal or not,” he said.
Stricter rules are needed in town and when they were in place some people who are not properly living in Airbnbs would be forced to leave local residences, Toteda said. The town should only allow Airbnb if it is room sharing with the person who owns the home continuing to occupying it, he said. Daily rentals are an abuse, he said.
Airbnb has a major impact on home values, Toteda said. An investor would be willing to pay twice as much as a home is valued if they rented it out without living there and that would inflate the values of other homes in town and result in higher property taxes, he said.
Councilwoman Jacqueline Annabi said the town board agrees that Airbnbs should only be rented out if it’s a primary residence. But Annabi said she did not agree with the proposal from the assessor’s office that would require the owner of a house to be physically present when they are renting a room. The home which is serving as an Airbnb would have to be registered as an Airbnb and provide a contact phone number, she said.
Councilman Steven Mackay asked what were the tax implications of having a home serve as an Airbnb. “Who’s collecting the taxes?” Mackay asked. Annabi said the homeowner would need to provide government entities with a record of revenue generated by their house. Mackay said if cash was accepted by the homeowner renting out a room that person may not report the income generated by the rental to the town.
Supervisor Sam Oliverio said some town residents support the concept of allowing a homeowner to rent out a room or less than 30 days if Airbnb were “very strongly regulated.”
Annabi said for those who would seek to rent a room in Putnam Valley they would do so typically for a weekend, for reasons such as attending a graduation ceremony at West Point, but not during periods all year long. “As a resident I feel that infringes on our quality of life” if a series of strangers rent rooms in local houses, Toteda replied.
“It is none of your business” if a person chooses to rent out their home and pay a permit fee to the town, Annabi said. But Toteda said if a home is being run as a business, it is illegal. Annabi said if Airbnb was legal in town, regulations would need to be followed. Toteda said Airbnb homeowners want to be anonymous and he doubted they would be willing to pay a fee to the town.
County Legislator Nancy Montgomery said a person seeking to allow their home to be an Airbnb could be fined if they do not follow town regulations is adopted, which could include a provision that would limit the days a home could be used as an Airbnb. Montgomery added the town could impose a tourist tax.
Oliverio said he agreed with Montgomery’s belief that Airbnb need to be regulated. “If you don’t have something somewhere, it’s going to run rampant and how do we stop it?” he said.
Councilman Louie Luongo said an investor renting out his house could make so much income that they would not mind paying an Airbnb fee to the town.
Town Counsel William Florence said an Airbnb fee should pay for the regulation of them, which could mean hiring a person to do so. “A pretty significant fee” would be needed, he said. At least another full- time employee would need to be hired if Airbnb was allowed in Putnam Valley and they need to be regulated, Oliverio said.
Oliverio thanked the assessor’s office for their comments. “We’re going to continue this discussion,” he said.
