Banner Elk, NC short-term rental permit

What Banner Elk asks of you

• Banner Elk ties the permit to registration, and the permit carries a registration number. Renting a unit before registering it and securing the permit breaks the code.^[4]

• Short-term rentals are a permitted use in R-1, R-2 and R-1U. C-1, C-1P and C-2 allow them as well. The list ends with M-E and M-U. Every other zoning district prohibits them.^[5]

• The code's definition of a whole-house short-term rental stops at 30 consecutive days.^[4]

• The permit section uses a wider threshold. Under it, a unit rented for less than 90 consecutive days needs the permit.^[5]

• Weddings, receptions and large gatherings are banned. Over ten overnight guests, the owner applies to the Board of Adjustment for a special use permit.^[6]

• Listings on hosting platforms must state the maximum occupancy, the on-site parking available and the registration number.^[7]

• Parking means at least one space for every two bedrooms, on an improved surface. The principal guest must be at least 21 years old.^[6]

• A designated responsible party must answer complaints within 45 minutes and live within 20 miles of the home. That person's contact details are posted inside the rental.^[6]

• The home cannot be rented to two parties under separate contracts at once. The only outdoor sign allowed is the house number and street name.^[6]

• Owners keep a three-year log of rental dates and nightly rates. The local tax office can ask to see it.^[7]

• Enforcement opens with a warning citation. After that, the civil penalty is $500 per violation, and each day a violation continues counts as another one.^[8]

What North Carolina asks wherever you host

These rules apply at this address whatever the city decides.

• Under G.S. 160D-1207(c), no North Carolina city can make registration a condition of renting your property. Demanding a housing-code permit before you rent is barred as well. The Court of Appeals applied that rule in Schroeder v. City of Wilmington.^[1]

• Zoning is what remains. In that case the court let a city keep whole-house lodging inside named districts. Parking rules survived too, as did limits on large events. So did insurance conditions and posted safety information.^[1]

• Renting out a private residence or cottage owes North Carolina's 4.75% sales tax. Local and transit rates come on top. So does any occupancy tax levied by the city or county. Sales tax stops once a single guest has stayed ninety days in a row.^[3]