New Orleans Short Term Rentals

[chapjim]

Had a lengthy telephone conversation yesterday with Nikki Krivjanick, General Manager of Quarter House in N.O. I had a week listed for rent and a respondent asked about accessibility and ADA compliance. I was pretty sure most of QH was not ADA compliant but I sent an email to QH asking about it. It got to Nikki and she called me, not so much about the accessibility (my unit is not ADA-compliant) but to warn about the risks of listing and negotiating rentals in N.O.

This has been touched on here previously but in a nutshell, here's what it's about. Short term rentals in Orleans Parish (city of New Orleans) without a permit are illegal. Merely listing a short term rental on a rental site without a permit is illegal. Permits cost $500. Violations can result in a fine of $6,000. I read the relevant part of the New Orleans Municipal Code and the requirements for a permit are daunting. The whole scheme is clearly intended to be intimidating. Nikki says Short Term Rental Administration personnel scrub listing sites from time to time looking for violations.

Immediately upon hanging up, I took down listings for two rental weeks later this year (including those on TUG's Marketplace).

For those who have been to Quarter House, Nikki says Country Flame, the Mexican-Cuban restaurant around the corner on Iberville, closed and has been replaced by an oyster/po' boy place. Also, she says NOPD finally removed the homeless people from the alley in back of QH and the alley has been cleaned up.

Nikki is the most effective timeshare resort general manager I've encountered.

 

[TravelJoy]

‘Embarrassing;’ New Orleanians blame officials for out of control crime, negative business impacts

New Orleanians say visiting some parts of the city just isn’t worth the risk and that crime is impacting businesses that rely on locals.

www.fox8live.com

Featuring Nikki

 

[jules54]

Man if it’s not Wyndham or the resort itself it’s the city. I encountered this last year with my Airbnb New Orleans listing. I took my ads down or rather Airbnb put a hold on the ads. I had several reservations already booked for Feb and Airbnb did not cancel them.
Is that 500.00 permit for every ad or each property?

Does the QH have an internal rental program for owners? I assume that is not affected.

I always think the resorts should be able to override this for their members. The resort/hotel is already paying all taxes and all city permits. Timeshare owners don’t own the entire property.

 

[chapjim]

Man if it’s not Wyndham or the resort itself it’s the city. I encountered this last year with my Airbnb New Orleans listing. I took my ads down or rather Airbnb put a hold on the ads. I had several reservations already booked for Feb and Airbnb did not cancel them.
Is that 500.00 permit for every ad or each property?

Does the QH have an internal rental program for owners? I assume that is not affected.

I always think the resorts should be able to override this for their members. The resort/hotel is already paying all taxes and all city permits. Timeshare owners don’t own the entire property.

The permit is for a single property. Here is a list of additional documents required:
Additional Documents Check
□ List of platforms used, including URLs
□ Floor plan that shows all:
□ Entrance and exit doors
□ Windows
□ Bedrooms
□ Guest bedrooms (no more than 3)
□ Owner/operator bedrooms (at least 1)
□ Bathrooms
□ Kitchens
□ Interior doors
□ Evacuation plan that shows all:
□ Fire exits and escape routes
□ Smoke detector locations
□ Fire extinguisher locations
□ Carbon monoxide detector locations
□ Site plan showing parking
□ Noise abatement plan
□ Sanitation plan that provides all of the following:
□ Daily visual inspections on the property
□ Regular litter and trash collection
□ Procurement of an adequate number of trash bins to secure all trash in a lidded container

Quarter House does have an internal rental program. I've used it several times with mixed results. I gave QH a Week 52 (Sugar Bowl Week) in 2023 and it didn't rent at all. QH's rack rate is pretty high.

I agree with your points in the third paragraph. Timeshares should be treated like hotels and, in a sense, they are, which may be why QH can rent my unit but I can't. The regs seem to be geared more to the AirBnB type facility, condos, or to homes where the owner is renting a portion of the home.

If it's not the timeshare company, or the resort, or the city, it's the state. I have ranted several times on TUG about Florida's Sales and Use Tax on short-term rentals.

 

[jules54]

In this case it’s the city of New Orleans. That list for the permit is pretty extensive. Airbnb used to have an exception for hotels and bed and breakfast until last year when I assume the city cracked down even harder.

 

[chapjim]

In this case it’s the city of New Orleans. That list for the permit is pretty extensive. Airbnb used to have an exception for hotels and bed and breakfast until last year when I assume the city cracked down even harder.

Yes, it's the City of New Orleans (good name for a song about a train).

Like I said in the initial post, everything about it seems to be designed to intimidate and discourage potential short-term renters. They even have a lottery for permits if the number of applications exceeds what the city says is allowable in a particular block. Most of us little guys are going to say, eff it, it's too hard.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Holy moly. Seriously. Maybe all cities will be doing this.

 

[chapjim]

Holy moly. Seriously. Maybe all cities will be doing this.

Licensing and/or taxing short-term rentals is a cash cow with little downside for the municipality.

 

[chapjim]

I guess my question is what is the fundamental difference between an owner occupying his week in a N.O. timeshare resort and a guest occupying the same week in the same N.O. timeshare resort.

Places like Quarter House are 100% short-term occupied and it doesn't matter if the week is supplied by an owner or by the resort.

 

[DRIless]

Williamsburg VA Short Term Rental/Airbnb law is
If zoned Residential, you may rent up to one bedroom in your home for up 104 nights a year. You must be 'in residence' when you have guests. The bedroom must be in your home, the home you live in, and not be a separate out building. If you are renting a home you cannot rent a room of it short term.

The only 'lobby' in town is the Hotel and Timeshare group, that and the effect that affordable long term rental was disappearing drove this relatively new law.

 

[CO skier]

There is no shortage of New Orleans listings on VRBO. There is also this in one of the ads:

"*Please note that per city permit laws, this home has a noise monitoring device. This is not a recording device, and it only monitors noise levels. Placement of this device was made mandatory by the city."

There is the city of Brotherly Love, and then there is the city of Big Brother -- New Orleans.