Proposed amendment to Saratoga short-term rental law

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The latest chapter in the ongoing effort in Saratoga Springs to regulate the city’s short-term rentals after a lot of back and forth in recent months. Tuesday night the city council met once again.

Leadership in Saratoga Springs proposed an amendment to Local Law 6. That’s the new law that was put on the books last year pertaining to short-term rentals in the Spa City. “This is a public safety licensing operation. Planning and zoning have been involved. And so, what we're doing is simply we're creating a license,” said Commissioner of Accounts, Dillon Moran.

A new addition to the law would be to add a required inspection of the property by the fire department. The cost is 200 bucks, but the confusion comes from the type of inspection you need.  “I think if they write it properly, then there's much less to misunderstand the way it's written. It says current code. It's a simple proper English thing,” stated one resident.

Saratoga Springs Assistant Fire Chief, Aaron Dyer says that will depend on the year the house was built. “The fire code that's in effect is the fire code that was in effect when the house was built, or when the most recent alterations have been made.” Dyer went on to say, “The whole intent here is having safety that's going to be facilitated through a fire inspection.”

He says there will be a 60-day window to get the inspection on the owner’s short-term rental. “As this program starts up, we understand that we are going to work with everybody to get through the inspections. So, we are not going to penalize a short-term rental application for the fact that we may end up getting a little behind.”

Public Safety Commissioner, Tim Coll said it comes down to keeping people safe.  “Our legislation is focused on safety. The Fire Department/Code Enforcement will conduct annual inspections of Short-Term Rentals to ensure all our residents and guests in our city are safe.”

But the Spa City Leadership wants to wait to pull the trigger. “So basically, we're waiting for governor Hochul to sign that legislation. We do, as I said earlier, believe there's going to be some changes to it and we're going to make sure that whatever we do is in harmony with that state legislation,” said Moran.