Tempe City Council moved forward with new regulations for short-term rental properties at their Jan. 5 meeting. These regulations are effective beginning March 6. Short-term rental owners will be notified by mail in February on how to apply for the new license.

There were two public hearings on the ordinance at the Tempe City Council Regular Council Meetings on Dec. 15 and Jan. 5 as well as two public meetings in November.

New Regulations
Owners of short-term rental properties will need to:
Obtain a business license and pay an annual $250 license fee.
Provide proof of a valid sales tax license and evidence the rental is registered with the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office.
Notify all residential properties adjacent to, directly, and diagonally across the property of their emergency contact information. Responses to complaints would be required from the emergency point of contact within 30 minutes for complaints for which public safety personnel are dispatched or 24 hours for non-emergency complaints.
Maintain liability insurance of at least $500,000 or provide evidence that each vacation rental or short-term rental transaction will be provided through an online lodging marketplace that provides equal or greater primary liability insurance coverage for the short-term rental.
Conduct a sex offender background check on the person booking the short-term rental at no cost by using the online national sex offender public website operated by the United States Department of Justice  and retain a record either in hard copy or electronic form of the background check for 12 months after the booking date.
Require the display of the local license number on advertisements.
Penalties for violations and additional information can be found at tempe.gov/ShortTermRentals.  

For questions regarding the short-term rental ordinance, contact Tempe Tax & License at [email protected].

State-allowed regulations
The Arizona Legislature previously pre-empted cities and towns from prohibiting short-term rentals within their borders under threat of withheld state-shared revenues, which communities rely on and are entitled to under state law. Recently, the Arizona State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1168, which gave additional tools, but not total regulatory control to cities. Until this time, cities had few tools other than to maintain a registry of short-term rental properties, which Tempe did establish.

The City of Tempe works hard to keep neighborhoods safe and secure for residents. Short-term rental properties have been a point of discussion in Tempe and nationally for several years. Additionally, the City of Tempe has a nuisance party ordinance (Code 5.31-35) that has penalties ranging from $250 to $1,500, depending on the number of citations. Residents may call 480-350-8311 for non-emergency incidents or 9-1-1 for emergencies.