A newly adopted “material fact” relating to the issuance of new Short-Term Rental Permits for residential dwelling units has just become County Code, for Eastern Placer County (above 5,000 ft… our region of Placer); achieving passage by a 4-0 vote, with one Supervisor absent. It was submitted and approved under State Government Code “Urgency Clause” provisions, meaning it takes effect IMMEDIATELY!
For at least the next forty-five days (45 days), as of July 27, 2021, Placer County will not be accepting new applications from homeowners to allow for the utilization of their home for any Short-Term Rental (STR) activities. Current STR permit holders can still renew their license to STR their property; However, the STR permit is NOT vested/attached to the land, but rather to the current owner with an existing STR permit. As such, even if a home that is currently for-sale has an owner (the seller) with a valid STR permit, it DOES NOT TRANSFER to the buyer.
Under the provisions of this temporary 45 day hold on the issuance of any new STR permits, if you do not currently own the property in question, have a valid STR permit in place, with no violations or enforcement actions against you, you may still apply to renew your license/permit to operate an STR (providing that there are no conflicting restrictions or prohibitions on such activities under CC&Rs or other contractual agreements/obligations).
The County has the option of extend the length of this moratorium on new STR permits by another hearing and “supermajority” vote of the Supervisors. At its worst, under this Urgency Clause, it could be drawn out as long as 48 months or more. The majority of both the Supervisors who offered up commentary on this point, as well as many members of the public who testified “for” or “against” this Temporary Moratorium, expressed a desire to bring all the interested parties (e.g., TSBOR, CATT, Mountain Housing Council, STR permit holders, professional property management groups, STR opponents, second/vacation homeowners, primary homeowners…) into some ad-hoc group to hammer out a long-term solution to the issues in-play, rather than extend this moratorium beyond its initial 45 day period. We’ll have to wait and see how this progresses, for it is truly an unknown.
View the Placer County Board of Supervisors Agenda for Tuesday, July 27, 2021
The actual County Staff Report and Ordinance Language can be found within the agenda as noted directly above, under the “COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE AGENCY”, item Number 7 (time certain for 10:00 a.m.).
Additionally, within that same agenda section you will find a link to the Mountain Housing Council (MHC) Update, with Potential Housing Initiatives for our region.
Please click on the links below to view the information.