Rising to the Challenge
Challenges continue for short-term rental (STR) hosts in our local Santa Fe community and across the state and nation. Between overreaching regulation by city and county governments, overzealous tax assessors posed to devastate non-owner occupied short-term rentals, hospitality lobbyists, and the false narrative that STRs are taking up affordable housing along with the associated fear-mongering that “out-of-staters and speculators” are buying up the housing supply, our industry has its share of trials.
There has never been a more important time to work for reasonable and fair regulation of STRs. We organized as a 501c(6) Trade Organization, with the objective to fight unjust regulation. We organized into a non-profit because our community needs a formal organization that can research and provide real data, educate for best hosting practices, advocate at the legislative level, and litigate if necessary. We strive to help form reasonable public policy for the STR community, which is composed mostly of individual owners trying to rent their properties to make additional income to meet their families’ economic needs. We ask you to join us in effecting positive change in our community and become a member.
Update: County Tax Reclassification
It’s clear that we have our work cut out for us in 2024. We are advocating against the County’s effort to change the tax classification of your short-term rental from residential to non-residential. Should this take place, STR owners will lose the 3% residential cap, and your properties could see up to a 30% increase in property taxes in one year.
We attended the County Tax Assessor’s technical support meeting in late November, and it is clear the Santa Fe County Assessor intends to move forward with this property tax reclassification of non-owner occupied STRs.(Non-Owner meaning you do not reside in your home the majority of the annual year)
The community hopes that current litigation will have some bearing on this, and other community stakeholders are advising waiting until the end of the month to mail in your survey in hopes litigation will stop the action before the survey deadline. However, when the SFSTRA attended the tax assessor technical support meeting with County Tax Assessor Isaiah Romero, he stated that anyone who does not return the survey by the deadline would face an automatic market re-evaluation and reclassification to non-residential. This market revaluation and reclassification will result in financial hardship for many and may drive STRs out of business, thus reducing the tax base instead of increasing it.
Make Your Voice Heard!
- Contact State & County Officials: We need all Santa Fe and County hosts and owners to make their voices heard and tell officials to stop moving forward on this change of tax classification that will undoubtedly cause financial harm to nonowner-occupied STR hosts.
- Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, email form, (505) 476-2200
- Secretary of Tax & Revenue, Stephanie Schardin Clarke, StephanieS.Clarke@state.nm.us, (505) 827-0700
- County Tax Assessor, Isiah F. Romero, assessor@santafecountynm.gov, 505-986-6300
- Contact Your State Legislatures: Let them know you do not support this re-classification and that STRs have always been considered residential in use, and this action will cause financial harm to nonowner-occupied STR Hosts
- Keep an eye out for future public outreach meetings from the County Assessor’s Office, here >(Next outreach meeting is scheduled for Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m. in Eldorado, NM)
City of Santa Fe: Deadline for 2024 Permits April 15
The City of Santa Fe STR permit deadline is Monday, April 15, at 5 p.m. All STR permits in the City of Santa Fe expire on Jan. 31 each year. If you do not file for your permit renewal, your permit will expire and no longer be valid.
New this year:
If your permit expires and you re-apply, your application will be subject to several new provisions recently updated in the City STR Ordinance. The changes include:
- Newly issued permits are limited to one permit “per” natural person
- The City will not issue a permit for a short-term rental unit if the subject property is located within a fifty-foot radius of a residential zone property that has an existing short-term rental with a permit
- The City of Santa Fe has imposed a cap of 1,000 STR Permits, and if you let an existing permit expire, you may be subject to a waiting list to obtain a new permit
A Look Back at 2023
We’ve been hard at work in 2023, advocating for Santa Fe STRs, hosting member events, creating educational resources, and advocating at the local level to help all Santa Fe hosts continue doing the work they love. We hope you’ll consider joining us as we head into 2024.
Take a look at some of the things we’ve accomplished with your support:
- In 2023, we completed our 501c6 non-profit designation
- Launched Santa Fe STRA memberships to help continue our mission of advocating for City and County hosts
- Attended County Tax Assessor tech support meeting and gave testimony that the SFSTRA opposes the Tax Reclassification
- In 2022 and 2023, attended numerous Board of County Commissioners Meetings and gave public comment and testimony on recommendations to simplify the onerous County STR Ordinance
- Met with multiple County Commissioners to make recommendations on modifying the County STR Ordinance, including Anna Hansen, outgoing commissioner Henry Royball, and incoming Commissioner Justin Greene
- Wrote letters to all other County Commissioners asking for significant modifications to the draft County STR Ordinance
- Met with the Santa Fe Area Realtors Association and other stakeholders to support opposition to the County STR Ordinance