Annapolis City Council members vote to limit short-term rentals

The Annapolis City Council voted on Monday to pass new limitations on the number of short-term rentals allowed per block in the city.

Under the new ordinance, new licenses can't be issued if short-term rentals make up more than 10% of that city block. Licenses for existing rentals can be renewed until November 2027.

After that, the city will begin a lottery system to reduce the number of short-term rentals altogether.

"This is quite possibly the strictest crackdown on short-term rentals since we started regulating them," said Ward 1 Alderman Harry Huntley, who proposed the bill. "Once a street hits 10% we will no longer issue any new licenses on that block face."

Huntley modeled the bill after similar rules in New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina. He said too many short-term rentals are changing the character of historic neighborhoods.

"The biggest issue here is feeling like you're completely losing your neighborhoods," Huntley said. "The problem is when there are so many that you feel like you've lost your whole community."

Read the ordinance here.

Residents say increasing short-term rentals is a problem

It's a hot topic among residents, who say the growing number of short-term rentals is becoming a problem.

In September, Annapolis residents told WJZ they were being priced out by short-term rentals and were losing their sense of community.

"There are people who have moved out of the area because they lost their sense of neighborhood," Craig Harrison, an Annapolis resident, said. "They can't go next door and borrow a cup of sugar, for example."

According to city data, short-term rental listings increased from 480 to about 560 over the past two years, with the highest concentration downtown.

"It feels like the balance has been tipped and there's just a greater amount of rentals than there are year-round residents, and I just think probably there needs to be some limits," said Lisa Telling, who lives on Fleet Street in historic downtown Annapolis.

Pat Zeno, another resident, told our media partner The Baltimore Banner that homeowners renting properties out on platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo drove them away from living in the city's historic district after 25 years.