As Boston considers regulating home-rental services such as Airbnb, legislation has been filed on Beacon Hill that would require homeowners to have insurance and pay a tourism tax if they want to open their doors to paying guests.
"It's trying to create a safe and secure environment while allowing these operations to continue to thrive," said state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, co-author of the bill. "It's a bill that will regulate short-term residential rentals in a similar fashion as hotels are regulated. This bill would simply level the playing field with short-term rentals."
The bill would require people who list their homes on website services such as Airbnb to:
• Register with their city or town.
• Have $500,000 in liability insurance.
• Pay a 5 percent tax that would go toward funding tourism. Individual cities and towns could implement their own tax as well.
"There would be a registration process that would be made to make sure consumers felt safe during their stays," Michlewitz said.
The tax, he said, would "allow the state and the cities and municipalities the opportunity to tap into unrealized revenues."
In a statement, a spokesman for Airbnb said the company is open to some regulations.
"We strongly support smart regulations and believe any policy should ensure regular people can share their home without unnecessary restrictions," said Nick Papas. He said the company is reviewing the proposed legislation.
If the bill succeeds, Massachusetts would be one of the first states to regulate the industry. Until now, most of the regulation has been at the city level. The Boston City Council, which is considering regulating Airbnb, has scheduled a public hearing tomorrow on the issue.
Airbnb said 33,780 guests stayed in Boston last year, resulting in $51 million in economic benefit to the city.
The regulations in the state bill are almost identical to regulations passed in San Francisco, which require registration, a tax and liability insurance. Last year, the New York attorney general said that three quarters of Airbnb rentals were likely illegal under current state law.
Neighbors for Overnight Oversight, a national group advocating for increased regulations of Airbnb, applauded the Bay State's move to regulate the industry.
"Generally this is a step in the right direction," said spokesman Conor Yunits. "We support legislation that addresses legitimate public safety concerns, prevents illegal hotels from occupying our neighborhoods and institutes some of the regulatory obligations others in the lodging industry adhere to. We welcome this progress and look forward to working with the Legislature on this issue."
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