BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – If you live in Brown County and rent your house on websites like Airbnb, your municipality will now likely know about it.
The Greater Green Bay Area Lodging Association is paying about $10,000, so Brown County communities can know who is advertising a home on the internet as a short-term rental.
As one of the first homes near Lambeau Field to receive a short-term rental permit from the City of Green Bay, Debbie Jacques tells FOX 11 documentation is key for renting out your home for short amounts of time.
“Because if something goes wrong, it’s going to reflect on all of us.”
Jacques operates her rental property under the name Under the Lights of Lambeau.
She not only has a permit, she also pays taxes on the money she makes from renting half of her duplex. The health department also made sure her property was up to code.
Soon, all Brown County communities will have the ability to make sure homes on sites like Airbnb follow the same steps.
“Once we get the software, we can identify all those properties and make sure all the rules are being followed,” said Mary Kardoskee, Ashwaubenon Village President.
Previously, it was up to each municipality to monitor the short-term rental sites.
Now, each community will have a Texas software company, Bear Cloud Software, doing that for them.
Kardoskee says once the information is compiled, it’s up to each municipality to decide what to do with it.
“We’ll identify them and make sure they know that they are to be collecting room tax and having the inspections done and all the licensing fees.”
FOX 11 also talked with an Ashwaubenon property owner who rents his home out on Airbnb. He didn’t want to talk on camera but said he believes there are more important things the communities should be worrying about rather than who is trying to rent their home out on the internet.
But Jacques believes this is important.
“When we have people stay with us, we want to make sure that their experience of Green Bay is above and beyond what they were expecting and we want them to come back again.”
Jacques says an easy way to do that is to follow the rules.
To know what those rules are, it is best to check with your municipality, because each one that has a short-term rental ordinance has varying guidelines.
The Green Bay Area Room Tax Commission helped arrange the new software each community will be using. The agreement with the Texas company is for one year.
