Paradise Valley Town Council amends code to address STR violations

Change will enhance health, safety, combat nuisance complaints at short-term rentals

The Paradise Valley Town Council has unanimously passed a series of amendments to the town’s code to better protect the health and safety of the community from disruptions caused by short-term rental properties.

The amendments fall into three general areas:

• Minimize nuisance complaints for all residents
• Protect the public health and safety
• Prohibit the use of STRs for inappropriate purposes

“Our citizens have spoken. The most pressing issue facing our residents is the disruption caused by short-term rentals in our neighborhoods. They also disproportionately burden and expose to risk our police and other first responders,” Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner said. “We have now taken additional steps to make our community safer for our residents, first responders, and renters in these STRs.”

Nuisance complaints

The majority of nuisance complaints received by the police and the town come from STRs.

Under the new amendments, it is a violation to make noises from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. — or 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the summer — that are above the vibration perception threshold of two or more reasonable people in separate residences or an officer across a real property boundary; or plainly audible from within two or more enclosed residences or the cabin of a police vehicle situated on a public right-of-way.

Police are authorized to enforce nuisance noise provisions regardless of whether complaints are citizen-reported or reported by police or other designated Town employees

Public health and safety

Town will require and make publicly available all of the following:

• Owner’s name/contact information.
• STR’s physical address and phone number.
• Local contact’s and emergency contact’s name/address/contact information.

Booking information – to be shared with the town:

• STR’s online advertisement/listing
• Booking dates
• Compliance with operating standards, health and safety requirements

Failure to register with town or county assessor will result in a $150 per day fee for renting or accepting a fee for booking an unregistered STR.

Prohibit the use of STRs for inappropriate purposes

Arizona statutes allow for the Town to prohibit the use of these properties from housing sex offenders, and selling illegal drugs, and other adult-oriented businesses.

To ensure the STR is compliant, all STR owners must now perform background checks on all renters to ensure that there are no registered sex offenders at the property.

The town also requires additional health, safety, and sanitation standards for STRs including:

• Liability insurance
• Smoke and CO detection and notification system.
• Fire extinguisher
• Fire safety and emergency evacuation map
• Air filters
• Local phone service
• Cleaning between bookings following CDC guidelines
• Pest Control

“After a great deal of input from the public, our council has clearly stated that the status quo is not acceptable — and that action was needed to put in place health and safety measures to protect our community,” Paradise Valley Town Councilmember Mark Stanton said. “These amendments restore some balance between the rights of the STRs and the rights of the community.”

“Some bad actors in the STR industry are destroying the quality of life in our neighborhoods. These new amendments are an important, first step toward making our community safer, but we still need comprehensive, statewide reform to fix the huge problems with rogue STRs in Arizona,” Paradise Valley resident Bill Hunter said.

The full list of amendments to the Town Code can be found here (PDF download).