Condo owners cry foul over Panama City Beach proposal

Condominium owners are raising concerns about a proposed Spring Break ordinance that would require them to register their units with the city for short-term rentals.

Article Courtesy of The Panama City News Herald

By John Henderson

Published September 14, 2015

    

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Condominium owners are raising concerns about a proposed Spring Break ordinance that would require them to register their units with the city for short-term rentals.
  
Several have contacted the city to complain about a proposed law that would, among other things, require them to go through a lengthy registration process with the city for their short-term rentals and pay a $45 registration fee for each unit. The proposed law, which will be up for a first vote of the council at its next meeting Sept. 24 at 2 p.m., requires people who rent out their units 30 days or less to register with the city and obtain a decal to plaec on the door of their unit.
    

To get the decal, the unit owner must provide 13 pieces of information, including a contract showing the unit has commercial garbage service and disclosing the number of full bathrooms in the unit. The unit owner also must provide their name and contact information, or the contact information of a responsible party for the unit in the event police need to contact them to evict unruly tenants.

The proposed law states the responsible party must be available by phone 24 hours a day, seven day a week and “capable of handling any issues arising from the use of the unit.”

Hector Solis, who rents out condos and was an outspoken proponent of a string of ordinances the city passed this year to tone down Spring Break, said the ordinance would be going too far if it passes as written. He said it is fraught with unnecessary requirements, such as a maximum occupancy requirement for rental units of four people for each air-conditioned, full bathroom, and a requirement that there is one trash can for every four occupants.

Traffic backs up along Thomas Drive on March 27 in Panama City Beach. Some condominium owners are concerned about a proposed Spring Break ordinance that would require them to register their units with the city for short-term rentals.


     

“I’m not against a registration ordinance as far as registering condos,” he said. “But this is way too much Big Brother when you start regulating trash cans. It’s just not done right.”

Solis said the ordinance should simply require people to register their short-term rentals with the city and sign a statement authorizing the police to evict renters if they are violating laws.

“If they haven’t given that authority, and are not on premises to assist (police) with an eviction, then their property can be considered a nuisance property and they can face fines,” Solis said.

Darrell Sellers, a property manager who was the founder of the Panama City Beach Owners Alliance that advocated the ordinances to tone down Spring Break, also said the latest proposed ordinance goes too far.

“The reality is something needs to be done,” he said. “Many management companies and owners are very absentee and not involved in the process whatsoever. But what the city is proposing is kind of stepping out of bounds. Some of the issues they are wanting to address can be done at the property management level.”

The city also has been getting complaints via email by condo owners concerned about the proposed law.

Debby Renken said in a recent email to the City Council the proposal would create “a huge administrative nightmare, costing the city and the owner a ridiculous amount of money, besides being very difficult to enforce.”

“I manage my own condos and do an excellent job,” Renken states in her email. “I have always been responsible and responsive. I do not believe the city should institute legislation that takes away my right as an owner to manage my own condos or create additional expenses that will discourage people from wanting to buy vacation homes in Panama City Beach.”

Kirti Kandhal, a condo owner at Splash Resort, said in a recent email to the city that generally speaking, properties managed by owners directly have a better screening process than those managed by management companies “because the owner has skin in the game and is more concerned about the damage that might happen to the property.”

“Instead of penalizing the people who have invested in the growth of the city and are paying taxes and are interested in the growth of the city, this ordinance will alienate them,” he writes.

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