COVINGTON, Ky. — The city of Covington has simplified the process for getting a license to operate a short-term rental unit, through companies like Airbnb and Vrbo.

What You Need To Know

  • Previously, many Covington residents were complaining there were too many short-term rentals taking up housing stock, with absent owners not maintaining them

  • The city also found many of the short-term rental operators were not registered

  • Now, there’s a cap on how many short-term rentals can exist in neighborhoods, stricter rules on owners being more attentive and a streamlined process to get a license

  • The new rules also give neighbors the chance to appeal the granting of a license

About this time a year ago, the city was receiving numerous complaints, both from people saying there were too many short-term rentals and from operators saying there was too much red tape.

A couple explained to Spectrum News 1 how they’re taking advantage of what the city says is now a more balanced system.

Gretchen and Doug Kraus have been fixing up old homes in Covington for a while now, but their three-room house is the first one they’re renting out as an Airbnb. When they first started playing around with the idea, it was a contentious time for short-term rentals in Covington.

“I think the idea was to kind of wait out the people who were not taking it seriously as a business,” Gretchen said.

Previously, many residents were complaining there were too many short-term rentals taking up housing stock, with absent owners not maintaining them. The city also found many of the short-term rental operators were not registered.

This led to a reevaluation of its regulations. Now there’s a cap on how many short-term rentals can exist in neighborhoods, stricter rules on owners being more attentive and a streamlined process to get a license.

“We changed the zoning. Applicants no longer need to go through the conditional use permit process. It saves them quite a bit of time and expense,” said Covington Mayor Joe Meyer. “So we’re maintaining our interests in protecting the affordability of our housing units, the quality of life in our neighborhoods, while accommodating the short-term rental business.”

Instead of paying a $600 application to get a hearing before a board to try to get a conditional use permit, short-term rental applicants now pay an $80 change-of-use application fee.

The changes were made in two ordinances recently approved by Commissioners: An amended Chapter 127 of the Covington Code of Ordinances and an amended Chapter 158 of the City’s Neighborhood Development Code, a la “zoning.”

“As soon as they were ready to go, we were able to put our name in the hat and make it happen,” Doug said. “I appreciate the fact that they were inundated with short-term rentals that weren’t licensed, even though they had it in place. So to be able to revamp it and get people to respect it, and stop messing up the neighborhoods with putting properties that they didn’t watch over, causing problems with neighbors and stuff like that. That’s something that we’ve been very concerned about.”

Meyer said many of the complaints residents had about noise, trash and parking have been quieted, as have those from people trying to get licenses.

“Certain neighborhoods were really popular and overwhelmed by the use of short-term rentals, to the point that it was really destroying the character of the neighborhood, and turning it into almost hotel districts instead of residential districts,” he said. “We find that there’s almost universal compliance with the regulations now that they’ve been in effect for about a year.”

The Krauses have only been renting their unit out for a month, but they said it has gone smoothly so far. They also said they appreciate the city cracking down on people who weren’t taking the responsibility as seriously as they do.

“It could be completely overrun with short-term rentals and it would just be probably out of control,” Doug said. 

“And it’s good for us in that there’s less competition than there would have been a couple of years ago,” Gretchen said.

The new rules also give neighbors the chance to appeal the granting of a license.

The Krauses said one of their goals is to help raise the value of Covington neighborhoods. Given how meticulous they are about all the fine details in their rental unit, neighbors complaining was never something they worried about.

There will also be changes to the cost of the actual rental license. The old rental license fee of $30 failed to adequately cover the cost of a required inspection, plus other administrative costs. The new annual license will cost $500.

For more about Covington’s rental license program and requirements, see rental license application portal.

For more on the history of the city’s regulation of vacation rentals, visit the city of Covington website.

Related Stories