How To Manage the Increase of Short-Term Rental Properties

Short-term rental properties are furnished dwellings available for short periods. Sometimes called vacation rentals, travelers often occupy these accommodations for a few days to a few months. Properties available for anything under six months are usually considered short-term rentals.

Short-Term Rental’s Rise and the Need for Digital Management

The number of short-term rental properties is rapidly increasing, which has created a greater need for code enforcement, permitting, and licensing software. Local governments can generate a tremendous amount of new tax revenue by adequately regulating short-term rental properties. Proper enforcement of requirements is necessary to manage these properties in a way that’s mindful of your community and minimizes any negative impact. With the influx of short-term properties, a software solution that increases efficiency and saves time is essential.

The Importance of Managing Short-Term Rental Properties in Your Municipality

Short-term rental properties make a significant impact on your community, some positive and others negative, without proper ordinance. The economic impact can be considerable, with increased income through tax revenue, and greater spending at local establishments by travelers who otherwise would never shop at these businesses. Accurate taxes and fees are appropriately and efficiently assessed with code enforcement, permitting, and licensing software, which allows you to easily create and manage license applications for short-term rentals, as well as provide seamless complaint and violation reporting with easy distribution of citations and collection of fine payments.

A potentially negative outcome associated with the growth of short-term rentals that need to be managed accurately is the loss in long-term rental availability. Since short-term rentals are located primarily in residential areas, these potential permanent living spaces are being reallocated for temporary lodging, which can limit available and affordable housing. Effective management strategies using community development software can help local governments correctly cap housing for these transient tourists, increasing revenue responsibly while protecting fair housing practices.

Understanding Community Development Software

What Is the Definition of Community Development Software?

Community Development software lets you electronically create and manage permit applications, payments, inspections, and contractor credentials. It streamlines the zoning, building, and inspection process while providing residents and businesses with 24/7 digital self-service functionality. It allows community members and businesses to apply for permits, eliminating phone calls and walk-ins while helping create safe, economically thriving communities.

What Are the Features of Community Development Software?

Community Development software allows for seamless license tracking, GIS-enabled infrastructure mapping, quick access to rental property permitting and planning and zoning information, and the ability to track inspections and maintenance reporting.

This type of software also allows for remote work via a mobile device. A staff member can gather information and enter data immediately while working away from the office. They can do so when they need to look up a permit or license or track a maintenance report, all without returning to the office, maximizing productivity and minimizing downtime. Additionally, community development software provides access to an invoicing and general ledger system, enabling revenue tracking, easy invoicing, fee processing, and more.

Managing Short-Term Rental Properties With Community Development Software

Property owners must follow and take the rules seriously for their community to have a successful short-term rental market. With community development software, it’s much easier to register and supervise rental properties since you don’t have to rely on a paper-based or another manual process, which is more likely to let new and out-of-compliance properties operate unnoticed. Digital software also provides mobile functionality for property owners and local government staff. When landowners want to enter the short-term market, there isn’t a barrier to entry, making it more likely that they will follow proper protocol and register their space, pay appropriate taxes, keep up with health codes and inspections, and follow other regulations.

The mobile optimization and digitization of your processes also help schedule and enforce inspections, create and manage permit and license applications, and determine the correct number of short-term rentals the community can handle. The above benefits help maintain economic balance in the housing industry while helping to assess and process penalties, payments, and renewals.

Benefits of Community Development Software for Short-Term Rental Properties in Your Municipality

Increased Efficiency and ROI

Utilizing a single solution streamlines your process and automates manual tasks, making your job easier. Taking your operations online provides mobile access to information while working away from the office, maximizing productivity and allowing real-time collaboration with in-office staff. Furthermore, consolidating all your code enforcement, permitting, licensing, and inspection work into one cohesive system that integrates and communicates with various applications to automatically carry out and complete a task instead of running multiple applications that can’t work together increases staff productivity and simplifies handling complaints and violations. The software improves your team’s performance, saves money, and facilitates revenue growth within your local government. Being able to digitally optimize profitability helps municipalities deliver their services with higher quality amid increased pressure from residents and businesses as populations grow.

Improved Communication and Collaboration Among Stakeholders in Your Municipality

When you give your residents visibility into your processes and methods, you gain civic trust and engagement. Streamlining and simplifying the permit application and approval process eliminates red tape and accelerates communications and compliance, which helps to clarify procedures and lets residents know you are there for their needs. Permitting solutions can track contractors, insurance requirements, multiple permit-related points of contact, and the status of current projects, which establishes high safety standards within your community and paves the way for future growth and development as the process becomes more attainable and understandable to residents.

Enhanced Compliance and Enforcement of Short-term Rental Regulations in Your Municipality

With seamless tracking of short-term rentals and each property’s application, inspection status, violation tracking, and citation processing, your team can hold owners accountable for their short-term dealings, avoid the negative effects associated with unkempt properties, and keep the community clean, safe, and economically viable.

Improved Transparency and Accountability in Your Community’s Short-term Rental Management Practices

Community Development software can increase transparency within your community by integrating with other digital applications, specifically 311 CRM and municipal code solutions. By giving your residents visibility into the regulations you put in place and clarifying your procedures, you let the community know that their best interests are top of mind, which increases civic trust by establishing high standards for your community.

Conclusion

Short-term rentals can be a welcomed accommodation to any community with the right strategy, and community development software can help you achieve the correct approach. Limiting the short-term rentals your community offers helps to keep your housing market inviting, and the convenient tracking and organization capabilities that digital solutions offer aid in this. Furthermore, enacting a seamless application process for registration generates new revenue and allows local governments to establish health, safety, and amenity standards that reflect the high standards of your community.