Norfolk tried to regulate Airbnbs. It didn’t work. So they’re trying again.

Norfolk — Norfolk’s efforts to police and control short-term rentals via Airbnb and similar services have fallen flat.

That was the message at the most recent City Council meeting, as Norfolk looks to ratchet up its efforts once again to clamp down on rogue rentals.

Norfolk has grappled with the issue for years, finally putting regulations into place at the start of 2019. The new rules tried to get owners to register with the city voluntarily, get business licenses and pay taxes.

[ Previous coverage: City of Norfolk forcing Airbnb hosts to pay taxes, get license ]

When it was pitched to the council, Deputy City Attorney Adam Melita said officials thought they could get the bulk of property owners on board with the right mix of incentives and aggressive enforcement.

But after more than a year and a half, just 22% of the 475 Norfolk properties listed on Airbnb are registered.

Planning Director George Homewood pointed out at a council meeting on Sept. 1 that one of the biggest features to registration — paying taxes every time someone stays in your house or apartment — is actually a disincentive to playing ball with the city’s requirements. And many of those currently operating wouldn’t pass muster under city guidelines anyway.

And several factors have left critical enforcement efforts lacking.

One: The U.S. Constitution.

City staff said absentee landlords who live out of state are among the biggest offenders under the current regulations. But violations of the zoning code are criminal offenses, and going after people outside the area with criminal charges is complicated by due process requirements under the Constitution, namely the need for a defendant to be served directly and personally.

“The problem we have now is we can’t even get them to the courthouse steps,” Homewood said.

But proposed changes would make dodging the short-term rental rules a civil offense, potentially making enforcement easier.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but attorney Melita said it would clear the way for going after non-local property owners. Serving folks for civil matters becomes as simple for the city as mailing something to Richmond.

“People won’t get a fine or locked up, they’ll be assessed a civil penalty,” Melita said. “And we can get people in court, even if they don’t show up, and we can get a remedy against them.”

That remedy would mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in judgements against owners found to violate the city’s zoning code. Melita said collecting the money is another matter, but the penalties could be taken as a lien against the property itself.

But the front end of enforcement — figuring out who’s violating the zoning code in the first place — continues to be an issue.

With just one zoning inspector for the city, “investigating anything other than reports that come in, we don’t have that capability,” Homewood said.

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Councilman Martin Thomas noted neighbors need to be able to quickly and effectively get responses from the city when they have issues with renters.

“If we’re going to say we’re allowing these short term rentals, we’re embracing them ... we’ve got to have the manpower to get out there and take care of problems immediately as they arise,” Thomas said.

Thomas said that may take more money. Other council members floated the idea of looping in employees from other parts of the city, like the fire department.

Other proposed changes to the zoning code include:

Capping required zoning certificates for short-term rentals at two years, meaning the owners would have to come back to the city for a new one periodically and potentially be denied based on previous behavior.
Requiring owners to post contact information inside and outside of a rental in case of emergency.
Limiting the ability for larger homes and apartment buildings in Ocean View to list short-term rentals, requiring homes with more than three bedrooms or apartments of more than four units to request special permission from the city. It would prohibit apartments with more than 10 units from listing at all.

Ocean View sees the most listings of anywhere in the city, officials said.

The proposed changes to the zoning law to crack down on short-term rentals were backed by the city’s Planning Commission in July. The City Council is expected to take up the issue at its next meeting on Sept. 22.

Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com