Rio Rancho City Council discusses regulating short-term rentals

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – The popularity of short-term rentals has exploded across the state. The growing demand for Airbnb’s and VRBO’s has Rio Rancho officials looking at new ways to regulate them.

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Rio Rancho City Council met in a work session to discuss regulating short-term rentals in the city limits. Currently, the city has an ordinance that permits them. City Councilors asked questions regarding complaints from people who live next to a short-term rental. “How hard are we gonna run down fireworks the two days around July 4th? How hard were gonna run down this compliance the two weeks around balloon fiesta cause we know it probably will swell?” asked City Councilor Jeremy Lenetine.

Besides noise levels, there were other public concerns gathered regarding parking, trash, pets, number of occupants, and length of stay. City officials said it would require hiring two code enforcement employees and using a third party to gather data around the listings. “Our enforcement action during that period of time is based on complaint and then based on it is complaint driven model,” said Rio Rancho City Manager Matt Geisel.

In the proposed ordinance, short-term rentals would only allow a home to be rented out once in seven days. It would also limit how many people can stay in the house, limiting it to two people per bedroom. The city would also require an annual inspection and annual permit. The city would limit the permits to 420 a year. “People that are struggling to find somewhere to place their families and I do not wanna be part of the reason why they continue to struggle. But I also don’t wanna withhold someone from financial opportunities,” said City Councilor Nicole List.

The new ordinance would allow the city to make money off charging a lodger’s tax and permits to become a rental. The ordinance will be presented to the city council at a future meeting. Currently, there are about 300 short-term rentals in Rio Rancho.

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