The town of Warren’s new short-term rental registry is off to a steady start, with dozens of property owners already submitting applications ahead of February 28 deadline.
“Registration is going really well,” said Kerry Newton, the town’s short-term rental coordinator. “We’ve had about 50 submission or applicant applications.”
Town officials anticipate roughly 400-plus short-term rental unit owners will ultimately register, though Newton said she did not have the exact number at hand.
“And the deadline, as I’m sure you know, is the end of this month, so I expect that as we hit the end of the month, we’ll see a bigger influx of applications coming through.”
Property owners are required to submit a $200 per-unit registration fee along with their applications.
The registry marks the first phase of implementing the town’s short-term rental ordinance. Newton said her understanding is that this initial round is intended to help the town determine how many short-term rentals are operating locally. Future adjustments to pricing, protocols or format could be considered once officials review the data.
While the state may collect some data from booking platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO, Newton said there is no comprehensive state registry because hosts are not required to register with Vermont directly.
“I don’t know if there’s a complete state database,” she said. “I think that because you’re not required to register with the state, so I’m assuming that the state would just get numbers from, if it’s hosted through a platform like Airbnb or VRBO.”
“Yes, I think it’s more or less the honor system right now,” Newton said. “If you have your listing through a platform, such as VRBO or Airbnb, we can obviously see.”
The town mailed an initial notice to the entire Grand List, not just properties identified through rental platforms, to cast a wide net.
So far, Newton said, responses have been largely routine.
“There really hasn’t been anything noteworthy that’s come through,” she said. “There’s been some clarifying questions, certainly, mostly regarding insurance requirements, but there’s been very little pushback.”
“I would say, the largest comment that we’ve gotten in terms of pushback has been, a belief that they’re grandfathered into the system since they’ve had their listing active in years past,” Newton said.
Information about the ordinance and registration process is available on a dedicated section of the town’s website.
“There’s now a section on the website for STR and it has the ordinance as well as the link to the form,” she said. “But no, I don’t think that there’s anything, it’s fairly straightforward.”
Newton, who moved to Warren 17 years ago from New Hampshire, also owns a small international travel company and was already assisting town officials before stepping into the coordinator role.
