Crime & Safety

Ask A Cop: How Do I Deal With A Vacation Rental Party Place

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Whether you have a question about certain laws and how they might affect you, your family or friends or how to stay safe in certain situations, we want you to ask them. Every week we will run one question and answer. To submit a question, email Shannon.burkey@patch.com.

Question:

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While we appreciate that out-of-towners are enjoying our lovely area, too, it seems that more vacation renters are coming here without respect that they may be in residential areas. Instead, the "party lifestyle" they often bring plays havoc with those who live around the rental. What to do?

Answer:

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All rentals have to be permitted through the county or city they are in to be a vacation rental. There is certain criteria that owners have to meet to get these permits. All of the information can be found on the Santa Cruz County Planning Department’s website.

There is a regulation that says that all vacation rentals in the county must have a 24-hour contact name and number posted outside the rental so that someone, usually a rental agency, can be contacted if a problem arises.

If there is a problem, you should first call that number and let the owner or rental agency know there is an issue. If it is a party at night, definitely call law enforcement and they will come out and quiet them down, but if it is a continued party place and you need more than just addressing the one party, first contact the 24-hour person and put them on notice that you are complaining.

If you don’t get any results with that, contact the county planning department. If you’ve documented that you’ve called the police or you’ve contacted the property manager and they are not doing anything, then bring it to the attention of the planning department and they can consider pulling their permit.

There is a full list of rules that rentals must be in compliance with, including the number or people staying in a rental property–two for each bedroom, plus an additional two–and the number of cars parked at the property. If a rental property is not in compliance with any of those rules or is a continual party place, the planning department can take another look at their permit and consider a plan of recourse.

For more information on the rules for vacation rentals, visit www.sccoplanning.com/

~Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office


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