Airbnb Claims 1,000 Rental Sites in Washingtonville/Blooming Grove
Washingtonville is finding itself pressured into exploring what some would call an 'unholy mess of "under the table" short-term rental locations' in our area, with sites like the above renting (over $4,000) thousands of dollars per week, a portion of which should pay a portion to the county, state and community. With a necessary increase in property taxes this year, some residents are saying that the Village is losing out on a lot of money by not allowing, promoting and taking a cut of local Airbnb locations which they say are prevalent. So "Why not take advantage of it?...It's foolish to let all that money slip by!", they say. But a closer look at the explosion of Airbnb's, along with Vrbo, Expedia, Vio, Bluepillow, StayZ and others listed in both the Town of Blooming Grove and the Village of Washingtonville finds many of the listings to be misleading and others downright fraudulent. For instance: A simple Google of Airbnb's in Blooming Grove brings up the probably false contention that there are "OVER 1,000 AIRBNB LOCATIONS IN BLOOMING GROVE." Wow! Since they are not currently legal unless they are properly registered with the County and State, that should be bringing in significant extra municipal funds. However, all is not exactly what it seems. How many are actually legally registered. And if in addition to a hefty registration fee a portion of tax income to the municipality is indirectly through County and State taxes that is passed on to municipalities, it is very timely that a better follow-up system is being considered by most area towns and villages, as well as by the State.
At the end of December Governor Kathy Hochul may have made this follow-up a little easier. She signed a new law adding a State Requirement that short-term rentals of 30 days or less register, along with a mandate that they share proper location and home owner identification, booking, occupancy details and taxes. This legislation now classifies short-term rentals as "hotels" for tax purposes and she says that the registration and site information will be shared with each municipality. This legislation also gives explicit authority for the municipalities to enforce compliance through legal action. According to News10, "The State of New York estimates that local communities have lost over a half billion dollars in uncollected taxes since 2019 due to unregluated under-the-table short-term rental platforms." These new State Registrations require short-term renters to comply before the end of March.
Just a few ads of the local Short-Term Rental Locations
Rather than the 1,000 sites Verbo says in its introduction, it then adds that "We found these 317 Blooming Grove holiday rentals", and THEN specifies "Here is a selection of 12 homes". Also, look closely at the pricing. In the "Secluded Sanctuary in Nature" listing just above, while it says that the rental is for the entire home and has 6 bedrooms for 13 guests, and while it's good to know that the rental is for the entire home, the $633 price is the unit price...the total in small letters underneath is $4,154 including taxes and fees. So, what is the legal status in the municipalities that have "no short-term rental" code, or even a ban on them? And how can these unregistered rental properties be identified. In 2017 Blooming Grove was the first municipality in the area to regulate short-term rentals, and it only permitted Hotels and Grandfathered B&B's, adding that "Other short term rentals are subject to code enforcement."
Next issue, is that Airbnb also says there are 123 vacation or "holiday" properties in the Village of South Blooming Grove. Since VSBG is a Village of Blooming Grove, are those part of the quoted 1,000 or part of the 317 or in addition to the 1,000 others that Airbnb claims. Some of those sites are, let's say "more than a little confusing", with the listing showing them in Monroe. But some of VSBG does have a Monroe mailing address. So, VSBG may or may not have a short-term rental code, but if VSBG does not have an Airbnb short-term rental code, but the mailing address of Monroe does, is it then legal? Nope! Does the Orange County and New York State record of registered and permitted Airbnbs show those sites to be in Monroe or VSBG?... so who is (or should be) currently getting the benefit of the tax income in the County's quarterly municipal payouts, and what about the reported taxes on that massive potential income? Does the municipality benefit from that as they should? You can see how confusing and yet how important it can get, since the State says communities are probably losing at least $1/2B. Additionally concerning is that all 3 collective municipalities (Village of Washingtonville - a village of Blooming Grove, Village of South Blooming Grove (also a village of Blooming Grove, and Town of Blooming Grove properties) have seen a huge rise in standard unregulated rentals (6 - 8 vehicles parked in a driveway and/or lawn of split-level 70's era homes built for a family of 4 or 5), also suggesting a nightmare if anyone dares to try and regulate capacity and rental of homes. That's really a different story, but given the safety and environmental issues. how would a Town or Village regulate a house that is basically being used an apartment building. "Back in the day" there was little need to list how many people could live in a home where the sewage, water and other capabilies were not designed for it to be used as a multi-family residence, so it raises big safety and aesthetic issues as well as a taxable income issue (who wants to drive around the corner from the home they work hard to look nice, and see a string of neighbors with cars parked everywhere, including multiple cars on their lawns). It may be a big feather in these municipalities' caps to be found so desirable, but the legal, safety, financial, and environmental issues are currently overwhelming to monitor.
AT THE VERY LEAST THE SHORT-TERM RENTAL COMPANIES NEED TO BE REQUIRED TO VERIFY THEIR REGISTRATION WITH THE MUNICIPALITY AND NOT JUST THE COUNTY AND STATE, OR FACE WHAT COULD BE VERY STEEP FINES.
Back to the issue of Airbnb and Vrbo rentals, some list availability of "Group Rentals", with bedroom capacity of 10-12 or more. But who monitors whether each bedroom has 1 or 2 adults and one or two children that stay in each bedroom, or relatives and/or friends to stop by and stay on a sofa for a day or 2, or 5? Some of the STRs actually ADVERTISE that there is "NO hostess or host on the premises." Quickly, 10 could turn to 30. What is the fire protection? Is there a lifeguard at the pool? Can authorities trust the Host and Hostesses who oversee these big rentals. And with a pool, barbecue and sauna described, it begins to sound a lot more like an unregulated hotel. Depending on WHERE and when these guest groups have an outdoor party, they have the potential to be heard a mile or more away. The ability of police departments to measure what some neighbors say is unfair noise becomes another rabbithole when there are several going on at the same time in a given neighborhood.
Still, residents who are in favor of these short term potential municipal "money-making" businesses say "Well, that's what we have police for. If they are too noisy or overpopulated, police can come and shut the party down. And they are here anyway, so let's get them locally registered." But IF it is true that there could be 1,000 of these businesses as Airbnb claims. operating on a given night.... just how much police and municipal overtime will it cost for the muni to quantify, or can they just trust that they receive a fair share from the quarterly tax portion of Airbnb income returned by Orange County and the State, now that they say they will be providing it, assuming that that registration records supplied to them are 100% legit and comprehensive. Can the Town require a separate registration fee? Well, apparently "YES". In towns closer to the New Jersey border where there is less standard commercial activity, farms, and less compressed population, STRs are more commonly allowed. West Milford is one of those, and they recently increased their registration fee from $500 to $750 for each rental location (and apparently the registration fee amount is up to the municipality.) The biggest issue for the municipality trying to follow up on those not following the rules is that vague descriptions of location, let alone those that may exist but are not advertised on the major short term rental sites, make it a huge challenge to contact them to insist that they either register or stop operating.
Washingtonville Mayor Tom DeVinko said at last week's meeting, when several residents suggested that the Village is throwing good money away by not allowing them, ... "I'm not killing the idea, but we need to look into it more, and find out how other municipalities in the area are dealing with it." He added that he did not want his board to have to spend excessive time chasing after them (the Airbnb sites)"..(at the expense of working on other Village projects.) Deputy Mayor Donna Jacaruso emphasized that she has contacted numerous area municipalities about how their regulations work, and will continue to do so.
Prices vary from $67 per night for some (arrive after 4pm and leave by 10 or 11am), to one listing, supposedly in Washingtonville, costing $998 for 5 days for an entire house with and a heated indoor pool.)...actually a total of $4,1554.
Here's the big catch - actually there are 3 caveats. When you start scrolling through the Airbnb section that claimed there were 1,000 in Blooming Grove, the actual photos show several in Greenwood Lake, a couple in Montgomery, and so on. Verbo puts a different slant on location. While trying to determine which sites are actually in Washingtonville and the Town of Blooming Grove, Verbo shows a shaded circle with a smaller circle and a tiny house icon in the middle that supposedly shows the location. One of the most popular, described as a "Woodsy location with 5 acres and a lovely cabin by a bubbling brook" is supposedly right on the border of Washingtonville, Blooming Grove, and Hamptonburgh, just east of the end of Tuthill Rd. between Tuthill and Beattie." But if you want to actually drive by to try and verify the location, that could take at least 1/2 to 1 hour to figure out exactly where it is via their map. To be fair, the rental companies do not want trolls disturbing their visitors. But this means that locating them for regulation and non-compliance could be an immense problem. If the County and State has at least some kind of a list of these valid registrations maybe they could provide the lists, as confidential documents to the municipalities.
The Bottom line is the difficulty of even FINDING and notifying all of these rentals to determine 1. whether they are even real at the location described 2. whether they are an Airbnb or Vrbo rental or the approximately 5 other large rental companies 3. or whether they are 'just' one of many other unregulated rentals (which are equally difficult to identify and consider regulating). That's a whole different story, but for now - How would a code enforcer be able to prove whether 1, or 5 people staying at a house are "paying renters", " just friends", "immediate family", "distant family" or an Airbnb site. Would they just take the word of whomever is present?
In summation, the point is that this seems like it could entail many hours of police and code enforcement oversight to determine how many short term rentals are in each municiipality. Even if it doesn't require that now, code has to be written with a caveat of a list of "what ifs???" How bad can it be? Well, recently NBC reported a clampdown on Airbnb for 59,000 fake listings in a Texas community. One "Hostess" bragged that her listing was designed and portrayed via a dollhouse. And if you think it through, the possibility of a fine against locations that are not legal could be huge - $2,000 (a fine used in some US locations), times 1,000 locations would be $2M). It seems logical therefore that municipalities should monitor WHERE the Airbnb and other short term rental sites are and does Orange County currently specify the portion of county money given back to them in their Quarterly Finance Report? If they don't do that currently, maybe they could be requested to do so. And how does Orange County deal with a registration while there is such lack of clarity over whether a site might be in Washingtonville, or Blooming Grove or VSBG. Hopefully that will be a moot point as New York State develops an overall shared list and each community identifies where those who are not currently registered are.
While there are lots of stories about the Airbnbs in our area, and Tourism Groups that are promoting them, there are also quite a few communities that are opting out with restrictive code. Recently the Village of Chester did an about face after a rather lengthy review, and for the present is only allowing B&Bs, and only if an owner is present.
Lastly, in 2017 the Town of Blooming Grove did some preliminary research into the issue, and then held a Public Hearing. At that time the several existing and regulated successful B&B (Bed & Breakfast) locations came to the meeting and sent letters documenting the enormous expense they had been required to incur to qualify as a B&B (fire safety, insurance, increased taxes, parking requirements, etc.) totalling many thousands of dollars. They submitted documentation of those expenses and emphasized rather loudly how unfair they believed it would be to allow Airbnb businesses to flourish without all of those requirements, and how, if allowed, they might negatively impact the other "Grandfathered" B&B rentals. Could a number of the larger Airbnb sites be required to become B&B rentals, with all those requirements? Actually, one of the proposed sites in Blooming Grove, at Orchard Lake, is currently doing that....and is applying to establish a B&B at tomorrow night's Blooming Grove Planning Board Meeting.
With the many misrepresentations of both Airbnb, Vrbo and others in their advertising, they are treading not-so-lightly along a trail of outright fraud. IF they want to be accepted in "upscale" or "rural towns that rely on their sweet country atmosphere to flourish, then the STR companies are going to have to "Step up to the plate!" as far as communicating accurately with both local and state officials about the locations and negotiating on some realistic regulations. These rental providers should remember that municipalities have "Home Rule" as to codes, and they could be fined, as other locations in the US are, between $1,000 and $2,000 per instance.
Even if the more populated sites become better regulated, the code will have to consider the impact on a residential area of large and loud weekend parties. Where is the line between it being nice to live in a neighborhood that has some fun once in a while, and a peaceful country lifestyle being ruined. Some of these large Group Rentals provide a great alternative for things like parties after a wedding or graduation, where relatives and friends travel a great distance to be present and to share the same location. Another question is: When does a party reqire an "Assembly Permit". On weekends and warm Summer evenings, because of the proliferation of SRTs, sometimes the local air is filled with "Rap", sometimes it's "Hava Nagila", sometimes it's "Frank Sinatra", and sometimes it's "Folk Songs". At a mile or more away it's not disturbing. Some evenings it's even nice. But sometimes it's not. Most residents don't have the luxury of a mile between themselves and the nearest Eastern neighbor. And the more that the short term rentals proliferate the larger the chance that you might live on a quiet farm or village block and pelted with loud "Rap" 'music' for several hours. It might or might not break the local noise code, and one of the last things local authorities and police want to have to do is to break up a party. To be fair, some people work very hard all week in order to have the peace of home, while others wait for the weekend so they can party. And clearly, what is music to one may be noise to another.
HOW SHORT TERM RENTALS MIGHT DEVELOP REASONABLE RULES
-THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY
Any code designed to make Airbnb's acceptable might well consider how many per municipality is reasonable, as well as how many there can be in in a particular sq. mile area. They might have to go on a Wait List if those numbers are exceeded. How many parties per month and/or per week per site could be a consideration. And possibly either a lowered decible of outdoor music permitted or maybe a one to two-and-a-half hour time limit, with possible exceptions for groups having a "Public Assembly" event (which entails a fee). The issue comes down to how much is too much of a good thing! Without a serious clampdown on Airbnb and Vrbo with accurate specification of location, that would be impossible. Vrbo often makes it even more difficult as it tends to specify location by listing how many tenths of a mile from a town or village center, leaving anyone investigating illegal STRs a several mile circle to search. Again, short-term rental companies need to cooperate better with LOCAL authorities as well as the County and State.
Airbnb's proliferate all over the world, and provide some great fun, recreation and relaxation for millions of travelers as well as local people who "just need to get away for a day or two". If so many other places can provide this popular amenity, maybe we can find a way to do it as well. Once upon a time a significant portion of our town and villages were Summer Cabins. Sadly, that era is mostly gone, though there are a handfull cabins that can slip through a loophole by being rented during Summer or Fall for over 30 days. And so it is incumbent upon officials of our area municipalities to do their best to clarify whether there is a way to regulate their safety, limit their number, possibly grandfather those that appear to be at least marginally legit during a grace period, with a goal of letting our municipalities continue to be the place where city folks and those who want to see the best of New York can do 'like the old days' when Mom would tell Dad "Let's go up to the Country." But it's a far cry from the old days now, when a short-term rental is $998 for 5 days ("Close to the trails and Schunnemunk State Park") and $1000 fee for space in a mansion (which sounds more like a hotel), when the biggest short-term rental company advertises there are 1,000 in our vicinity. As Tourism in this area grows and the Schunnemunk Rail Trail attracts additional visitors, the phrase "close to the trails" may soon be a very popular ad feature, and for good reason.
And how would new regulations, if and when they are put in place, integrate with those of the County and State? We have the benefit of being a home rule community. With this Tourism growth in mind, a community like ours could lose a heap of financial resources if we don't support rental income that other municipalities accept. It's a common conflict in these parts, and getting more common every day day.... Do we prioritize additional community income or protect the beauty and peaceful quality of life enjoyed here in the Southeast Corner of Hudson Valley, but with some sparkles of fun and community gatherings. Or, can we have both? As the Rail Trail and popular events grow, so will the need for a suitable place for these visitors to stay. A couple new and well -managed B&B sites that reflect the surrounding environment, and potential camping grounds near the Washingtonville and Cornwall areas of the Schunnemunk Rail Trail might fulfill several of these needs. And then there may also be potential lodging when the new County Park at the Blooming Grove/Chester border (also right by the new trail) could balance and join the short-term rental competition, which by the way would bring additional wealth for other local businesses. Clearly, this could be a Win-Win, but ONLY if there is good oversight of planning, distance between them, safety and noise regulation, occupancy limits, and a fair system of registration that ensures financial reward for each participating community. The chances are that a short-term rental that by its ads might be in VSBG, might be in the Town of Blooming Grove or might be in Monroe is likely to get lost in the bookkeeping, along with its appropriate revenue disbursement. For this reason many communities are using AI and other technology to keep track of listings, registration numbers, and occupancy information that must be provided by the short-term rental group. Newark, NJ just instituted such a program this week, and they fine sites $2,000 per offense.
Tackling the benefit/cost ratio of supporting these types of rentals, if well done, is not going to be an easy challenge, and will not be fully solved overnight or even in a month or two. But it might be worthwhile. After all, the fad of travelers loving Airbnbs is no longer a fad, and is likely to be around for a long time. Maybe a broad spectrum committee of volunteers could help research useful 'resolutions' (sic) and give report suggesting revision of current code which would then be presented at a public hearing before becoming law.
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