Bend’s City Council has asked staff to draft some new rules regarding short-term rental (STR) licensing.

The new rules would expand the current 250-ft buffer between STR’s to 500 ft. That’s pretty significant as you can tell from the GIS Departments map of eligibility here.

An important thing to remember about this map is that it doesn’t take into consideration neighborhoods where short-term rentals may be prohibited by CC&Rs. When you see a neighborhood on this map that doesn’t contain at least one place where an STR would be stopped by the current 250 ft. radius, that is a good indicator of a neighborhood where the CC&Rs prevent short-term rentals. Notable examples are neighborhoods like Broken Top, Awbrey Glen, and Northwest Crossing.

The crazy thing about these new rules is that they are mostly being proposed (as was the original STR buffer restrictions) to protect the River West neighborhood where 31% of the current STR licenses exist. As was the case back before the City passed the STR licensing program, the River West neighborhood has the option of organizing their own HOA and passing their own rules regarding short-term rentals in their neighborhood. Why we keep getting these city-wide rules to protect one small pocket of residents is beyond me.

Another provision of the new guidelines will be that a landlord can keep their STR license, preventing other homeowners within 500 ft of getting a license, and then put their property into long-term rental.

If you have any questions about Bend STR licensing, type I vs type II, transferability or property values, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.