Short-term rentals in Stillwater, explained properly.

Sec. 23-115.3(2): licenses expire on January 31 each year or immediately on change of ownership and may be renewed annually by filing a renewal application with the city clerk. The annual renewal fee is $10.00. Sec. 23-115.3(4) bars renewal for a property deemed in violation of the Stillwater City Code until the violation is resolved through final disposition of a prosecution in the Municipal or District Court, or on certification by the building code official that the property complies with applicable codes.

Under Sec. 23-115.4, the application includes a typewritten list and mailing-label data, certified by the Payne County Assessor, licensed abstractor, attorney, engineer or architect, of all property owners within 300 feet of the subject property, prepared no more than 30 days before submission. The city clerk sends notice of the application to each owner on the list, documented by a certificate of mailing. If no written objection is received within 30 days of mailing, the clerk may issue the license provided all other requirements of Secs. 23-115.3 and 23-115.4 are met. If a written objection is received within 30 days, the application goes on a planning commission agenda for a public hearing under Sec. 23-180(f), and appeal is to the city council. We did not read Sec. 23-180(f).

Sec. 23-115.3(3): no license is issued or renewed until the applicant produces sales tax permits issued by the State of Oklahoma or evidence that such collection is done by a third-party rental agent. Sec. 23-115.3(4): no license is issued or renewed where taxes levied under Chapter 39 of the City Code are delinquent and owed by the owner or operator, or where the property is in violation of any section of the Stillwater City Code. We did not read Chapter 39, so the tax rates are not stated on this page.

Sec. 23-115.4(1): the application is filed with the city clerk on the clerk's form. It lists the owner's name, mailing address and telephone number and the street address of the property; the number of bedrooms offered; verification of working smoke detectors, a working carbon monoxide detector and a functioning fire extinguisher, met by a signed and notarized affidavit and a floor plan showing the rooms for rent, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detector and fire extinguishers; proof of ownership; the URL of any and all advertisements of the rental; and the certified list of owners within 300 feet.

Sec. 23-115.1 defines a residential short-term rental as any dwelling, portion thereof, or habitable accessory structure for rent for a temporary period of time up to 30 consecutive days per guest within a 90-day period. A guest is a person who rents or occupies with others a residential short-term rental. Rent means all payments, except deposit and damages, to the owner or operator for temporary occupancy of the dwelling.

Sec. 23-115.3(5): no person shall offer or engage in residential short-term rental in or on any part of the property not approved for residential occupancy, including but not limited to a vehicle parked on the property, a storage shed, trailer or garage or any temporary structure such as a tent. The definition in Sec. 23-115.1 covers any dwelling, portion of a dwelling or habitable accessory structure.

Sec. 23-115.3(6): no person shall offer or engage in residential short-term rental without complying with applicable building or fire codes. The application also requires the safety-equipment affidavit described under application contents.

Sec. 23-115.6: the division is not intended to be construed in derogation of or in conflict with any restrictive covenant, deed restriction or lease agreement that may apply, and is subject to any applicable overlay district or provision or any zoning restriction unique to a particular area or parcel.

Sec. 23-115.5(2): the city manager establishes written procedures for complaints about residential short-term rental properties, including a web page where neighboring property owners and other aggrieved parties can report violations, and establishes and publishes on the website a list of all licensed residential short-term rental properties. We did not read the City's web page.

Sec. 23-115.5(1): a license may be suspended or revoked for failure to pay taxes due under Chapter 39 or for violation of any section of the Stillwater City Code or state law. No license is suspended or revoked until the owner or operator has had written notice of the violations and a public hearing before the planning commission, which may order suspension or revocation on a preponderance of the evidence. The planning commission's decision may be appealed to the city council by filing notice with the city clerk within ten days.

Sec. 23-115.7: violation of Sec. 23-115.3 is a Class C offense, and each day a residential short-term rental is operated in violation of that section is a separate offense. We did not read the penalty provisions that set the fine for a Class C offense. Licenses may also be suspended or revoked (see suspension and revocation).

Section 1354(A)(7) of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes levies an excise tax of 4.5% of the gross receipts or gross proceeds from the service of furnishing rooms by a hotel, apartment hotel, public rooming house, motel, public lodging house or tourist camp, unless the sale is exempted in the Oklahoma Sales Tax Code. The Oklahoma Tax Commission says the state sales and use tax rate is 4.5%, that local taxes may also apply, and that, except for residential utilities and certain food, local taxes apply to the same taxable items and services as the state tax; it also lists lodging among the transactions the state sales tax levy covers. The statute and the Commission's answers read do not say in so many words whether a private home or room rented for short stays is a "public lodging house"; owners should confirm their filing duty with the Commission. City and county rates are shown on each place's page.

Under sections 1391 and 1392 of Title 68, a marketplace facilitator is a business that lists or advertises a marketplace seller's products and, directly or through others, collects the buyer's payment and passes it to the seller. Since Senate Bill 1339 (effective January 1, 2023), "product" includes services and other transactions taxable under the Sales Tax Code, but not a hotel or motel built with more than 12 rooms. A facilitator with at least $10,000 of taxable Oklahoma sales in the previous 12 months must file an election each year with the Tax Commission either to collect and remit the tax or to comply with notice and reporting requirements; one that elects to collect must get a sales tax permit, and its collection duty also covers local sales taxes administered by the Commission. The Tax Commission says marketplace facilitators making sales of Oklahoma lodging may now be required to collect and remit state and local taxes. Which election a given platform has made is not stated in these sources; check with the platform. City hotel or lodging taxes are separate and shown on each place's page.

Section 1-1201 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes makes it unlawful to operate or maintain a hotel without a license from the State Commissioner of Health, which (unless a rule says otherwise) expires each June 30 and carries an annual fee set by the Commissioner. For this section, "hotel" includes any hotel, motel, tourist court, apartment house, rooming house or other place where sleeping accommodations are furnished or offered for pay to transient guests, if five or more rooms are available for transient guests. The statute does not say how the Department applies this to a house or apartment rented short-term; owners renting five or more rooms should check with the Oklahoma State Department of Health.