Newton’s Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) sat down on Monday with the Commissioner of the Inspectional Services Department (ISD), Anthony Ciccariello, to discuss the city’s progress on the enforcement of its Short-Term Rental (STR) ordinance.
Ciccariello revealed that there is still a long way to go in prosecuting offenders of the repeatedly violated law.
“There’s about 200 registered STRs on the state registry [in Newton],” Ciccariello said. “Currently, we have 14 registered, and out of that 14, we have six that are in violation.”
Another 17 properties that appear on the state’s registry but not the city’s have been issued cease and desist letters, giving owners 35 days to come into compliance with the ordinance. The city will fine owners who fail to comply up to $300 per day.
“We have actually sent out 17 violations recently to other STRs that we’ve found out, [but] not through complaints,” said Ciccariello. “Complaints have been very quiet, very little. So we would look through the ads and we would look and see if we could find some that were in violation.”
Additionally, a home rule petition could raise the fines from $300 to up to $2,000 if the request were to be granted by the state.
“Well, what the other home rule petition that we approved applying for was to increase maximum fines from $300 to $2000—not that we would have to go all the way, but it seems like the rentals on some Airbnbs, they could make more in a day than the fine,” said Ward 3 Councilor Julia Malakie.
Amendments to the city’s STR ordinance in 2024 have made imposing STR guidelines dramatically easier. Under the new rules, property owners are solely responsible for violations, regardless of who actually committed them. In addition, property owners must live on the property being rented for nine months of the year, and every property must display the city registration number.
“To put it frankly, ISD was struggling with enforcement,” said Andrew Lee, senior assistant city solicitor. “We were getting the run-around from the operators of the STR when we tried to go after the owner, and the way that ordinance was drafted, the owner simply said, ‘Well, it wasn’t me. I’m not the one posting this.’ We really had no recourse against them … there was no clear line to who was responsible.”
Even with the improved law, the challenge with locating violators and enforcing the ordinance remains. When asked by Ward 2 Councilor-at-Large Susan Albright about the time frame for prosecuting the remaining violators after locating the first 17, Ciccariello responded that it would take “over a year” to do so.
To speed up the process of finding violators, multiple ZAP members suggested using artificial intelligence to quickly obtain the addresses of the offending homes.
“The Historical Society has a photograph of every house that was in existence in the 1930s, so the city might be able to, now with AI, download those facades, and it would make it a whole lot easier,” said Ward 6 Councilor-at-large Victoria Danberg. “If we have a picture of the house, we can do an instant ID.”
A new set of uncompliant STR owners, such as those operating on Airbnb and VRBO, will be subject to fines in the coming days.
ZAP ultimately decided to hold the matter rather than close it outright. It will be reintroduced in six months for further review.