HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-31-17 Public Comment - M. Brown - Short Term RentalsDear City of Bozeman,
Your endeavor to try and regulate short term rentals seems like a good idea for commercial
enterprises and I appreciate your diligence on this effort. However, I am a owner of a residence
that I have for personal use and believe that you can not regulate me renting my residence for
any amount of days. Under State Law you will find the following:
1) Landlords who rent out their own house, whether it’s for a year, the winter, a month, a week
or a weekend, can not be treated differently from other landlords and there’s nothing in Title 70
Chapter 24 of the Montana Code Annotated (the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977)
that says they should be. Nor is there anything in that Act that says that short-term vs. long term
rentals should be treated differently. That Act “applies to, regulates, and determines rights,
obligations, and remedies under a rental agreement, wherever made, for a "dwelling unit located
within this state.” (70-24-107)
2) Montana does group “tourist homes” with other types of accommodation establishments such
as rooming houses and bed and breakfasts in 50-51-102, but such an establishment is defined as
“not occupied by an owner”. The whole point of the legislation for the Health Department
oversight is to reach persons engaged in the business of operating such an establishment only for
“transient occupancy in a hotel or motel" - not incidental rentals of their own homes. Houses
that are occupied by an owner but rented out on occasion by that owner - for whatever period of
time fall solely under Chapter 24.
3) The Planning Department can not require an owner renting their home to have a business
license. I am not “engaged in the business of conducting or operating an establishment”. A
business license is not required for the rental of residences. Further, I am not operating a
business “undertaken for gain” within a residential structure that is “incidental and secondary to
the use of that structure as a dwelling”. It is primarily a residence, even if I am renting all or a
portion of it for residential use. Additionally, when the "dwelling unit is used as a home" the
IRS only requires business loss or profit to be filed when there is a “presumption of
profit”. Rental income needs to be more than rental expenses for at least 3 of 5 years in order to
require business schedules.
My understanding is that Bozeman is trying to copy Missoula ordinances. I have read the
Missoula Officer Opinion on short term rentals and it is flawed with misinterpretations and
misquotations of the law.
This has been costly to me. My homeowners association threatened to keep me from renting in
an R3 neighborhood based on you calling me a “Commercial Business”. They even asked
neighbors to spy upon each other and have threatened steep fines. More than half the City has
such homeowners associations with similar covenants.
No matter how long you take to figure out how to regulate transient hotel and motel occupancy
of solely “Commercial” enterprises, (which I applaud) I suggest you immediately lift the
requirement for commercial business licenses for rentals of residential homes for
any duration of time. In addition, you should lift the conditional use requirement since
under Montana law, anyone has the right to rent their own home for any period of time.
Thank you,
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.
Marilee Brown
579-5447