Short-term rentals in Sylacauga, explained properly.

The owner gives the name and telephone number of an emergency contact with the application. The contact must respond within one hour to complaints about the condition or operation of the STR or conduct of renters or their guests, must be able to respond on-site within 12 hours if requested by the City, and must answer calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week during each rental period. The owner submits revised contact information to the City Clerk before any change of contact.

Section 7.15.01.B requires all STR licensees to obtain and maintain vacation rental property insurance that covers the commercial lodging use of the site. Proof is due within 30 days of approval of the STR License and must be resubmitted each year for renewal of the license.

Section 7.15.01.C requires each owner, once the STR License is issued, to give written notice to the City Clerk and to all owners of property within a radius of 500 ft of the STR property. The notice lists 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 to stay in the unit, and the maximum number of vehicles allowed to be parked at the property.

Section 7.15.02.B says the dwelling may not be rented to more than one guest party simultaneously, and that occupancy is limited to the most restrictive of (1) no more than two persons per bedroom plus two persons and (2) no more than four persons per parking space. The Building Official determines the number of bedrooms and parking spaces as part of the STR License and may inspect the dwelling to verify the application. The owner must, by written agreement with the renter, limit overnight occupancy to the maximum approved with the license.

Section 7.15.02.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. Section 7.15.02.F says no food may be prepared or served to rental guests by the licensee.

Section 7.15.02 requires adequate off-street parking to accommodate all guest parking needs, and no recreational vehicles, buses or trailers may be stored on the street or forward of the front building line. No on-premises signage legible from any right-of-way may advertise the STR. A copy of the STR license, emergency contact information and house rules that comply with the section must be posted in a conspicuous place in the dwelling. The STR must comply with all applicable City regulations including building construction, fire safety, noise, and garbage collection and disposal, and the owner or emergency contact must promptly notify the renter of a reported violation and act to prevent a recurrence.

Section 7.15.01.D makes the licensee responsible for collecting and reporting taxes from any rental arrangement that is not subject to an established collection agreement with the City. The tax types and rates are not named in this section. Alabama's state lodgings tax and platform rules are shown in the state section of this page; a City lodging tax rate hasn't been reviewed yet.

Section 7.15.03 says that if the Building Official determines a provision of the section has been violated, the owner receives written notice of the provision violated, the corrective action and a compliance due date. The Ordinance Enforcement Officer may issue a warning in an exercise of discretion if the person has not been previously warned or cited. The first violation is subject to a fine of $150; any second or subsequent violation is subject to a fine of $500 for each subsequent violation.

If a violation of building, fire safety or property maintenance regulations has not been corrected by the compliance date, the Ordinance Enforcement Officer or Fire Official may cause the STR License to be temporarily suspended, and it is reinstated for the rest of its current approval period once the violation is corrected. The Building Official may extend the compliance date where substantial progress has been made. 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 Ordinance Enforcement Officer requests a hearing before the Council; after a public hearing the Council may revoke the license for the remainder of its current approval period and suspend the owner's ability to renew it for an additional year. No STR License may be renewed unless all outstanding penalties are paid in full to the City.

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.