Vacation Rental Homes Face New Cap In Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, MD — New limits were placed on short-term home rentals this week in Annapolis.

The city is now barred from issuing new licenses for short-term rentals on a blockface when 10% of its units are short-term rentals. The City Council passed the ordinance Monday.

Short-term rentals are often listed as vacation homes on websites like Airbnb and VRBO. Supporters say they're necessary to support the city's tourism economy. Opponents argue that regulations would protect communities from being overwhelmed by vacationers.

Alderman Harry Huntley, who represents the downtown historic district, introduced the legislation.

WJZ said Huntley based the bill on similar regulations in New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina.

"Short term rentals can be part of our community, but they can't be all of our community, or we won't have a community," the Ward 1 Democrat said, according to WMAR.

The Capital Gazette said Democratic Alderwomen Karma O'Neill, Ward 2, and Sheila Finlayson, Ward 4, voted against the bill. Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell Charles (D-Ward 3) did not attend the meeting, the newspaper said.

"While I support reducing the number of short-term rentals in our city, I don’t think that this action goes far enough, and I think that our biggest issue in our city is enforcement," O'Neill said, according to the Capital Gazette.

Annapolis has about 560 short-term rental units advertised at any given time, but only 50.5% of them are licensed.

The city has 42 blockfaces that exceed the 10% cap, a May staff report said. There are 30 blockfaces over the limit in Ward 1, five in Ward 2 and seven in Ward 8.

Short-term rentals that are occupied by the property owner will not count toward the cap. The cap will not be in effect during the Naval Academy's Commissioning Week or the city's boat shows, both major events that draw swarms of visitors.

Blockfaces that currently exceed the 10% cap will have a grace period. Property owners on those blockfaces can renew their license until November 2027. After that, a lottery will determine who gets the licenses on blockfaces over the cap. Priority will be given to Annapolis and Anne Arundel County residents who already have a license.

Blockfaces with fewer than 10 residential units are limited to one short-term rental license. A blockface is defined as one side of a block.

The full text of the bill and its amendments are posted here.

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