Recently H.200, a bill to impose a residency requirement for the owner of a short term rental property, was introduced into the House of Representatives and referred to the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs. This bill would require property owners who want to rent their property short term to occupy the property as their primary residence for a minimum of 270 days or 70% of the period of ownership.

The bill, as introduced, has the potential to eliminate the short term rental of second homes, condominiums and any property other than a primary residence. Airbnb has notified their clients of this potential change and there are petitions circulating to oppose the bill.

The Vermont Association of Realtors® (VAR) advocacy team has been watching the development of this bill over the past several weeks, along with two additional short term rental (STR) bills that have been introduced. Last Friday, the chair of the committee, Representative Stevens of Waterbury, re-introduced a rental registry bill (H.257) that includes short term rentals. At the same time, Senate Housing and Economic Development introduced the same language in S.79.

VAR’s Government Affairs Committee has been monitoring the proposed legislation and is prepared to provide comments when the bills come before their respective committees. Most bills that progress need to be reviewed and voted out of committee and onto the House floor before they can be sent to the Senate for their review. This “crossover” date will likely take place on March 12, 2021.

It is far more likely that the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs will take up the Chairman’s bill, (H.257) to address rental properties in Vermont. We will continue to monitor H.200, but we anticipate that progress on a rental registry will develop in H.257 and S.79.