Clark County Has Issued $10.5 Million in Fines to Operators of Illegal Short-Term Rentals Since 2019
LAS VEGAS, NV – In Clark County, there are some 10,000 short-term rental properties, but only a tiny percentage of them are licensed; the others have incurred large fines that have added up to millions of dollars for the county’s coffers over the years.
During a recent interview, Rachel O’Brien from OpenTheBooks.com spoke on the fines that have been imposed upon these illegal short-term rentals, the slow pace that Clark County has taken in issuing out licenses, and how the county compares to other regions of the country in regards to its regulation of services such as Airbnb that offer rental properties for fewer than 30 days.
Out of the over 10,000 estimated illegal rentals in Clark County, only 1,300 submitted applications last year to get a license,” she said. “The county told us this week that that 549 of those are still in the lengthily application and review process. So far, 146 licenses have been issued, so only one in five applications are getting approved and getting licenses, which means only 1.5 percent of all rentals are currently legal and licensed.”
There’s a lot more work to do in Clark County, and officials keep getting asked when are they going to do another application process, as the original one was a year-and-a-half ago,” O’Brien added. “They haven’t announced another application, but they said that they are working on it.”
O’Brien was then asked how much money Clark County been able to truly collect after fining people who are operating without a license.
Since 2019, Clark County has issued $10.5 million in fines, and sometimes the fines can be up to $10,000 a day,” she said. “So, we’ve seen one property get a $240,000 fine, and another property received a $56,000 fine… these are huge amounts of money, and sometimes they are being fought by the homeowners, as in many cases the fines are high and possibly unconstitutional.”
O’Brian noted that County Commissioner Ross Miller suggested putting a cap on the amount of fines that could be issued; in addition, OpenTheBooks.com inquired if the county would be interested in adjusting the fines that have been doled out to violators, but said they received no response.
When comparing the current rules on the books in Clark County to other major metropolitan areas in the United States, O’Brian said that large fines levied against illegal short-term rentals are commonplace.
Henderson charged people over $200,000 in fines last year and this year combined, and Las Vegas fined one person $180,000, and he’s suing and saying he’s not going to pay that,” she said. “And around the country, you have Dallas, which has banned short-term rentals and people there have sued and a judge pressed pause on the ban and it’s still awaiting a final decision in court. New York City allows short-term rentals only if the owners are staying on site with the renters, and they’re only allowed up to two guests.”
Washington, DC and San Francisco limit rentals to 90 days a year, and in LA you can only rent up to 120 days,” O’Brian continued. “Palm Springs limits their rentals to 20 percent of the housing stock, whereas Clark County limits it to just one percent, which is a very small number, and New Orleans has banned it in certain areas. But in all of these areas, just like in Clark County, they have to register and they have to pay taxes, and there are illegal rentals in a black market everywhere, and there are fines just like there are in Clark County.”
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