LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Better Las Vegas Brief Time period Rental Affiliation filed a brand new petition in courtroom on Thursday regarding the ongoing battle between short-term rental hosts and Clark County.
The affiliation is requesting a preliminary injunction to “stop the County from continuing to issue fines against our Association members for allegedly operating without a license and/or for advertising their rentals.”
“When it comes to average people trying to make a living, they just don’t care about those people. So we were forced to sue them, and we feel that the only way that we’re going to get a fair shot at this is in court,” the Better Las Vegas Brief-Time period Rental Affiliation founder, Jackie Flores, informed 8 Information Now.
The transfer follows experiences that hosts, corresponding to Jason D’souza, have obtained stop and desist letters from the county. The Aug. 23 letter learn, “immediately remove any advertisement until a valid short-term rental license is obtained.”
Nonetheless, hosts like D’souza declare that getting the license is sort of unimaginable.
“I went to the place asking for a business license, and they’re not giving any,” he defined.
“The county here is telling people ‘follow the law,’ but then the county is not able to process the applications they received. And on top of that, they’re not allowing people to apply for licenses,” Flores stated.
Clark County cracks down on short-term leases
As for what’s subsequent, they’re ready for a courtroom date, however Flores stated she stays looking forward to a optimistic turnout.
Within the valley, the battle round quick‑time period leases isn’t new. In June, the affiliation argued that the present legal guidelines stripped property homeowners of their rights and challenged the county. In consequence, a federal choose granted Airbnb an emergency injunction to implement short-term rental insurance policies.
“The injunction blocked the county from going after Airbnb, so now, we need to ask the court to block the county from going after property owners,” Flores defined.
Airbnb host Patty Linson has a number of properties throughout the valley and has been a number since 2017. Her foremost precedence is altering the “narrative” within the debate.
“It’s because the hotels feel as if it takes away from their bottom line, when in reality that’s not what’s happening,” Linson stated. “They should see we’re bringing worth. We’re truly driving individuals, the enterprise, to the strip.”
The Better Las Vegas Brief Time period Rental Affiliation estimates there are between 10,000 to 12,000 quick time period leases valleywide.
“If you can bring 15 people to Las Vegas, and they can save money by staying in a location, such as mine, and then go out and gamble and do all the things they do when they visit here, is that not a benefit to Las Vegas?” she stated.
8 Information Now reached out to the county for a press release. They responded that they don’t touch upon pending litigation.