Short-term rentals in Phenix City, explained properly.

The owner gives the emergency contact's name and telephone number with the license application. The contact must respond within one hour to complaints about the condition or operation of the STR or the conduct of renters or guests, must be able to respond on site within 24 hours if requested by the City, and must answer calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week during each rental period. Before any change of contact, the owner submits the revised information to the Building Official (Sec. 7.16.01.a).

Sec. 7.16.01.b says all STR licensees must obtain and maintain vacation rental property insurance that covers the commercial lodging use of the site. Proof of insurance must be provided within 30 days of approval of the STR License and resubmitted each year for renewal.

Sec. 7.16.01.c requires proof of notice to the Building Official that all owners of property within a radius of 500 feet of the STR property, according to the most recent County Tax Assessor record, were notified in person or by certified mail. The notice gives the names and telephone numbers of the owner and emergency contact (if not the owner), the City's Code Enforcement telephone number for reporting violations, the maximum number of renters permitted, and the maximum number of vehicles allowed to be parked at the property.

Under Sec. 7.16.02.c.1 a dwelling may not be occupied by more persons, or rented simultaneously to more guest parties, than established in the approved STR License. Occupancy is limited to the most restrictive of (a) no more than two persons per bedroom plus two persons and (b) no more than four persons per parking space. The Building Official determines the number of bedrooms and parking spaces as part of the license, and the owner must limit overnight occupancy by written agreement with the renter to the approved maximum. The Building Official, Fire and Police Departments may inspect to verify the information submitted with the application.

Sec. 7.16.02.c.3 says there must be adequate off-street parking to accommodate all guest parking needs. Sec. 7.16.02.c.2 also requires compliance with the City's on-street parking and garbage collection and disposal regulations. The number of parking spaces the Building Official counts also feeds the occupancy limit.

Sec. 7.16.02.c.4 requires a five-pound ABC type fire extinguisher, type 2A10BC per National Fire Protection Association ten, within the dwelling or the portion used for short-term rental, and interconnected smoke alarms in all bedrooms and adjoining hallways. The dwelling must also comply with the Building Code and the Noise Ordinance (Sec. 7.16.02.c.2).

Sec. 7.16.02.a says the dwelling may only be rented for lodging use and may not be rented for weddings, parties, concerts or similar events or used for such events during any short-term rental period. Sec. 7.16.02.b says food provided to rental guests by the licensee must follow the rules and regulations of the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Sec. 7.16.02.d requires the STR license, emergency contact information and house rules that comply with the section to be posted in a conspicuous place in the dwelling. Under Sec. 7.16.02.e, when told a renter or guest has violated the section or a noise, garbage or other City Code provision, the owner or emergency contact must promptly notify the renter and take the action needed to prevent a recurrence.

Sec. 7.16.01.d makes the licensee responsible for collecting and reporting taxes on any rental arrangement not subject to an established collection agreement with the City. The City's lodging tax rate and the terms of any collection agreement are not shown in the pages read. The Alabama state lodgings tax and platform collection rules shown on this page apply in addition.

Under Sec. 7.16.03 the Building Official notifies the owner in writing of the provisions violated, the corrective action needed and a compliance due date. Violations are subject to fines in addition to other remedies: the Building Official may, in discretion, issue a warning to a person not previously warned or cited; the first violation carries a fine of $150.00; and each second or subsequent violation carries a fine of $500.00.

If a building, fire safety or property maintenance violation is not corrected by the compliance date, the Building Official or Fire Official may temporarily suspend the license until it is corrected, and the Building Official may extend the compliance date if substantial progress has been made (Sec. 7.16.03.b). When noise, occupancy, parking or other conduct violations occur during more than one rental period in the same license year or within any six-month period, the Building Official requests a Council hearing, and after a public hearing the Council may revoke the license for the rest of its current approval period and suspend the owner's ability to renew for an additional year. A license cannot be renewed until all outstanding penalties are paid (Sec. 7.16.03.c).

Section 40-26-1 of the Code of Alabama levies a privilege or license tax on every person in the business of renting or furnishing rooms, lodging or accommodations to transients in any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin or any other place in which rooms, lodgings or accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for a consideration. The rate is 5% of the charge in the 16 counties of the Alabama mountain lakes area (Blount, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan and Winston) and 4% in every other county, and the charge includes any charge for personal property and services furnished in the room. The tax does not apply to rooms, lodgings or accommodations supplied for 180 continuous days or more. The Alabama Department of Revenue says lodgings tax is collected through an account at My Alabama Taxes, and that counties and cities may add their own lodgings taxes of between 1% and 13%, some collected by the Department, some by third-party administrators and some by the local government itself. Local lodgings taxes are shown on each place's page.

Section 40-26-1.1 of the Code of Alabama (the Alabama Tourism Tax Protection Act of 2024, Act 2024-334) says an accommodations intermediary, meaning a business other than the owner that facilitates a lodging transaction and charges the guest a room or accommodations fee it keeps as compensation, must collect and remit the state lodgings tax and parallel local levies for transactions on or after January 1, 2025. The tax is charged on the room charge, the full retail price the guest pays including any fees. When the intermediary handles the booking for an accommodations provider (an owner with an active lodgings tax account who collects and remits the tax), the tax collected may be remitted to the provider if an executed written agreement says who remits it, and the intermediary is then not liable for tax the provider fails to remit. The intermediary must state the tax separately on the bill. Where the owner has hired a licensed professional property management company, that company is the merchant of record. The Department of Revenue's notice describes the same rules. Which local lodgings taxes a platform collects in a given place is not stated in these sources; check with the platform and the local tax office.

Section 40-26-1.1(g) requires every accommodations intermediary and accommodations provider to submit an annual report, in a form set by the Department of Revenue, listing the physical address of each accommodation rented or furnished for more than 14 days during the previous year; the report is confidential taxpayer information. Exempt are licensed professional property management companies that collect and remit the state lodgings tax (or manage homes leased for a month or more as the tenant's principal residence), hotels that collect and remit the tax, tourism marketing organizations funded by the tax, and marina, tent camping and RV providers that collect and remit it. The Department of Revenue's notice describes the same reporting rule and exemptions.