Short-term rentals; registration, civil penalty, effective date.

Short-term rentals; registration; civil penalty. Directs the Department of Taxation to establish a registry of short-term rental properties and requires accommodations providers and accommodations intermediaries to register with the Department. Under the bill, an accommodations provider shall provide to the Department its name and the address of each property it offers for short-term rental. The bill states that the Department shall issue each such accommodations provider a unique numerical identifier for each such property. Furthermore, an accommodations intermediary shall provide the Department with its name and the contact information for the individual responsible for liaising with state and local officials regarding noncompliant short-term rental listings. The bill states that as a condition of listing a short-term rental on its platform, an accommodations intermediary shall require each accommodations provider to provide such provider's name and the unique numerical identifier and specific address for each short-term rental offered. Under the bill, such information, as well as information regarding receipts and taxes paid, shall be provided to the Department by the accommodations intermediary on a quarterly basis, unless the accommodations intermediary submits monthly reports containing the property addresses and gross receipts for all accommodations facilitated by such intermediary in a locality during such quarter.The bill states that the Department shall provide the commissioner of the revenue for each locality with access to the registry and information contained therein. The commissioner of the revenue shall notify an accommodations intermediary of any short-term rental on its platform that is not lawfully authorized to be offered on its platform, and the accommodations intermediary shall remove any such listing from its platform. Under the bill, any accommodations intermediary that does not remove such a listing from its platform shall be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 to be paid into the Virginia Housing Trust Fund.The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.