Short-term rentals in Southside, explained properly.

Sec. 30-116 makes it unlawful for any person to advertise, solicit or facilitate the rental for less than 90 consecutive days of a single-family or multifamily residence as defined by the division, whether by mailings, print advertisements, internet listings or any other means. The definition of "advertisement" covers any written, electronic or oral publication intended to induce a person to enter an agreement for a rental in violation of the division, including mailings, print advertisements, internet listings, e-mail and Facebook publications. "Facilitate" means acting with knowledge that an operator, managing agency or rental agent is committing or intends to commit the offense. The scope follows the covered districts (R-1, R-2, R-3, RG, RT and AG) in the definition of single-family residence.

Sec. 30-117 makes a violation of Division 2 a misdemeanor punished as provided by Sec. 1-15 of the Code, and each day a violation continues is a separate offense. Sec. 30-118 says a violation is a public nuisance per se and the City may bring equitable or injunctive proceedings in a court to abate prohibited uses. Sec. 30-119 allows the issue of a UNTCC (the Code's term) for a violation; the recipient may present it within 72 hours with evidence that the violation has been abated, and the issuing officer or the chief of police may void the citation before it goes to municipal court. Sec. 1-15 was not fetched, so the fine and jail amounts it sets are not shown here. The ordinance adopting the Code (Ord. No. 0-004-2020, Sec. 4) sets a default penalty, unless another penalty is expressly provided, of a fine of not more than $500.00 and possible imprisonment or hard labor for up to six months, with each act and each day a separate offense.

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.