Communities across America have wrestled with regulating startups that change the economy. From the first days of the modern factory to wage issues with Uber and the gig economy, regulation is a hot-button issue. The hotel lobby has fought tooth and nail against VRBO and Airbnb, claiming customer safety and standards are the big issue. We all know the REAL issue is green and has pictures of presidents on it, but the lobbyists have still succeeded in getting laws passed.
And they’re not all bad! Some are helpful in preserving the reputation of the short-term rental industry as a whole, bringing a level of consumer confidence to the market that helps all investors. Probably the trickiest piece is the sheer localization of these rules. Every community has come up with its own VRBO regulations, which is good for democracy (yay decentralization!) but hard for owners to sort out.
We’re here to help. VRBO regulations in Vail have a few key facets.
Local Agent Requirement
This is the big one, and in many ways the genesis of our company. Vail is not a fan of absentee landlords. The town requires a local agent within 60 minutes of the property who is available 24/7 to address complaints within one hour. If the complaint happens between 11pm and 7am, they have to address it in half an hour! So your Tim Ferriss inspired dreams of drinking mai tais in Thailand while your Virtual Assistant (VA) handles everything are dashed (unless your VA lives in Vail).
You basically have three choices: Move to Vail, find an extremely reliable friend who already lives there, or hire Away Agents or another property management company who can fulfill this and basically everything else for you.
Registering
As registrations go, this one is mercifully brief. Vail just wants you to go to its website, pay $150, comply with a few safety requirements, and get set up to pay taxes. You can even pay taxes online…like we said, not too bad.One important caveat: some Vail residences are subject to private covenants or homeowners associations, are part of a duplex, or are deed-restricted employee housing units. Check the FAQs before you move forward if you fall under one of those categories.
Taxes
Taxes are 9.8% right now on VRBO rentals in Vail, spread among several categories. VRBO does not collect or remit any lodging taxes for you so you’ll have to register to do that yourself. You’ll find more tax-specific information on the websites linked to above.
Away Agents will handle all of the above for you, leaving you more time to live your life. Write to scott@awayagents.comifyou’d like to learn more.