Wheat Ridge to legalize Airbnb investment properties

[James Carlson]

Wheat Ridge is joining the small list of Denver area cities that allows Airbnb investment properties. And to me, it's the most interesting city yet.

I wrote about Arvada and Littleton legalizing short-term rentals in non-owner occupied homes in 2020. But Wheat Ridge is intriguing because it so close to Denver. Specifically, there are Wheat Ridge homes within a 5-minute drive of Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood, and 32nd Street in Highlands, some of the best performing STR markets in the metro area. Not a bad place to buy a home and rent it full-time on Airbnb.

A few highlights of the proposed law:

• Only one whole-house Airbnb investment property per owner. 
• No limit on the number of nights you can rent per year.
• There will be a cap on the number of investment STRs per council districts to 2% of the total housing stock in that district.
• Registration for licenses will go live May 1. 

A glutton for boring ordinance research? Read the actual ordinance here. Thoughts out there?