LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Clark County code enforcement is on the lookout for noise, parties or other disturbances at short-term rentals through Memorial Day across unincorporated parts of the Las Vegas Valley, as hundreds to thousands of listings remain unlicensed and illegal while no licenses have been given.
County officials urge residents to call 311 for illegal short-term rental violations, noise or party complaints, but 911 for incidents of violence. County officials have ramped up enforcement in 2024, issuing a total of 249 citations for illegal operations. In 2023, teams issued 348 citations for the whole year.
Some neighbors have told FOX5 that they welcome visits from code enforcement. One neighbor this spring described a nearby house as “the short-term rental from hell.” Other neighbors took to “X” to ask for an investigation of up to five properties on one street that are all short-term rentals, making their community feel less like a neighborhood.
The Greater Las Vegas Short-term Rental Association calls code enforcement efforts a waste of taxpayer resources and inherently unfair, as homeowners still do not have a path to operate legally.
“The problem that we have is when the county tries to paint all short-term rentals as if they are all bad actors. They continue to do this every time, including Metro: they continue to refer them as party houses, places where crime happens, which is completely not true,” said Jackie Flores of the GLVSTRA, who argues that the county is missing out on tax dollars by prioritizing enforcement rather than generating revenue from bookings and licenses.
Homeowners recently asked Clark County leaders to intervene at a March commission meeting, stating their income has been halted since 2022, when the county first created an ordinance and pathway to apply for a license. In spring 2023, county officials created a lottery for an order for prospective licensees to have their applications reviewed.
Applicants have started to receive denials. A county spokesperson emailed FOX5:
“The denial notices went out on April 15, 2024. There were 207 denial notices issued. If an applicant received a denial notice, he or she was able to appeal the denial. The appeal period closed on May 15, 2024. The process to this point must be completed before proceeding with the license process.”
“I had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, and I don’t have long. What’s really irritating is I might pass away before this whole process is even done,” said homeowner Louis Koorndyk, who had two applications denied, hoping one of them would be approved. He has appealed.
The GLVSTRA has continued litigation against Clark County’s ordinance and appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court. The court will make a decision without oral arguments before the court.
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