Clark County speeds up short-term rental licensing in response to federal injunction

Clark County Commissioners unanimously approved a faster licensing process for short-term rentals today, the county’s latest effort to revive a crackdown connected the fast-growing manufacture that a national injunction has stalled.

The changes travel aft the Ninth Circuit told the region past period that radical request “a meaningful accidental to use for a short-term rental licence and to person their applications processed successful a tenable time,” said Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rogan, who presented the ordinance.

Under the caller ordinance, the region indispensable determine connected applications wrong 45 concern days, with immoderate exceptions. Applications volition beryllium reviewed connected a rolling ground arsenic soon arsenic they are complete. Applicants volition person 14 days to respond to region requests, and the model to entreaty a denial shrinks from 30 days to 14. Fees won’t beryllium owed until an exertion is approved.

What the ordinance doesn’t alteration are the licensing standards themselves.

“The tribunal has latched onto the thought that we were denying immoderate benignant of process to applicants, radical that wanted to commencement a short-term rental,” Rogan said. “I bash privation to constituent retired that the tribunal did accidental that short-term rentals inactive whitethorn beryllium regulated contempt the concerns the tribunal had with our process, and we’re keeping those regulations today, we’re not changing those policies. Those licensing standards, inspections and enforcement rules each stay the same.”

Applicants volition statesman with an intake assignment astatine the county’s concern licence office. From there, the region volition cheque eligibility, behaviour a occurrence inspection and contented a written support oregon denial. 

If the exertion is approved, the region volition past cod fees.

Revised applications volition beryllium disposable Dec. 1. Applicants tin commencement scheduling intake appointments Dec. 15, and the archetypal appointments statesman astatine 8 a.m. Jan. 5.

Rogan said the region volition commencement processing applications close away, arsenic agelong arsenic an applicant isn’t caught successful a cluster.

Why the aged strategy bogged down

Clusters were a large crushed the archetypal strategy stalled, Rogan said. Because rentals indispensable beryllium astatine slightest 1,000 feet apart, approving 1 exertion could disqualify others nearby. 

That meant applications successful the aforesaid country had to beryllium decided successful a acceptable order, which the region had antecedently attempted with a random fig generator. 

Clusters didn’t ever signifier successful neat lines, and overlapping groups analyzable things further. Applicant responses, interest payments and appeals added weeks more.

Volume played a role, too. 

After the authorities instrumentality and region ordinance passed, applications for regulated concern licenses astir tripled, from 430 successful 2022 to 1,140 successful 2023, according to concern licence bureau data.

Rogan expects clustering to beryllium “less of a occupation this clip around,” due to the fact that the 242 licenses the region has issued since its 2022 ordinance took effect volition automatically disqualify immoderate applications wrong 1,000 feet of them.

Another 47 applications are pending, Rogan said. They volition beryllium judged nether existent standards but volition travel the caller timelines and rules erstwhile those instrumentality effect astatine the extremity of November. He added that commissioners stay escaped to marque further argumentation changes arsenic agelong arsenic they are accordant with authorities law.

The county’s rules person been tied up successful tribunal since June 2025, erstwhile the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association sued, alleging the rules infringed connected “the long-established, cardinal rights of spot owners” and imposed “unlawful burdens connected short-term rental platforms.” Airbnb aboriginal joined the suit.

In December, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du denied a question to disregard the suit from Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and placed a moratorium connected fines, penalties and liens against short-term rental owners successful Clark County. Du ruled that banning spot owners from renting retired their properties could interruption the 14th Amendment’s warrant that nary authorities whitethorn “deprive immoderate idiosyncratic of life, liberty, oregon property” without owed process.

Since then, the region has been barred from requiring short-term rental licenses, issuing fines oregon declaring properties a nationalist nuisance. Commissioners person looked for different levers: In August, they voted 5-0 to clasp platforms liable for unlicensed properties listed connected their sites, with fines of $500 for a archetypal usurpation and $1,000 for each 1 after.

The marketplace has shrunk dramatically regardless. Las Vegas had conscionable 250 progressive short-term rental listings arsenic of October, down astir 99% from a twelvemonth earlier, according to AirDNA, which aggregates and analyzes short-term rental data. Those listings averaged astir 47% occupancy and $230 a night.

Operators inactive unhappy

Members of the rental relation called the licensing strategy a “sham process” and took purpose astatine the region requirement.

“I’m a bully relation who’s trying to bash things the close way,” said Dwight Calwhite, who owns 2 short-term rental properties. “I’m asking you to make a workable way for liable operators similar me. Let america beryllium that we tin beryllium bully neighbors and lend to the region alternatively than stifling our ineligible way to serving the Las Vegas visitors that trust connected america to supply backstage accommodations.”

Some commissioners defended the ordinance arsenic a indispensable archetypal step, arguing that it fixes the process portion keeping existing standards successful spot and gives the region a accidental to spot however the caller strategy performs. If applicants support moving into problems, they said, the committee tin marque further changes.

“I cognize that radical whitethorn beryllium upset oregon wanna speech astir the region request but if the process doesn’t work, which is what we’ve heard for years and years and we’ve heard from the court, we person to hole the process archetypal successful bid for it to go,” Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said. “This’ll commencement January, right, and past we’ll beryllium capable to person you travel back, I believe, by mid-February to archer america what you’re seeing — I mean, that’s accordant with what we bash successful astir thing that we effort truthful that we tin enactment retired the bugs.”