BEREA, Ohio — As short-term rentals rise in popularity, many communities have found they fall into a gray area outside of city ordinances.
The City of Berea is the latest in Northeast Ohio to draft legislation in an effort to put guardrails in place.
“We currently have no regulation for short-term rental properties in Berea,” said Berea Councilperson Erika Coble. “We are seeing some issues when it comes to those properties.”
The legislation would limit and regulate short-term rentals, introducing a permitting process and some accountability for homeowners should problems arise.
Coble said this is truly a community-driven piece of legislation that came about from residents asking the city for action as their concern grew.
“It's coming from the citizenry, from feedback from our citizens of Berea, what they'd like to see going forward,” she said. “So we're really tailoring it to the people of Berea and organizing it around their input. So I think it's unique in that way.”
It would codify the different requirements for owners seeking to use their property as a long-term rental and those looking to go the short-term guest, not tenant route.
"We just want to differentiate between the two kinds of properties and get a proper permitting in place,” said Coble. “And then if there are nuisance issues like parties or excessive parties or exterior maintenance or things like that then we can hold them accountable but right now we do not have a permitting process in place."
She said they will also be looking at a bed tax that would apply, as well as a way to offer incentives to encourage short-term rentals that are owner-occupied.
The measure will have its second reading at the Monday, September 15, meeting of council.
