Vacation rental regulations in New Pennington County go into effect on Wednesday

Pennington County currently has licensing rules in place for homes considered “vacation rentals.”

As homes are taken off the market by these types of rentals, officials say such regulations could make more homes available to full-time residents.

As of this week, these licenses are required for some, but not all, vacation rentals in Pennington County.

County Planning Director Brittney Molitor explained the new policy.

“One is that they have a South Dakota Department of Health accommodation permit, a South Dakota Department of Revenue permit, and a local contact person,” Molitor said. “If they have a septic tank, they must meet the occupancy requirements based on the septic tank. The maximum number of bedrooms is five, and no part of the apartment can be in flood water.

These regulations will not affect, for example, renting a single room on Airbnb.

“A vacation home rental is a single-family home or apartment rented entirely to one family,” Molitor said. “If you have a house on land and you rent it for a short term rather than a long term, we call it a short-term rental.”

Molitor said it’s a matter of naming these rental companies by code.

“It’s more of an administrative process,” Molitor said. “When we look at the definitions of land use and land use, the way someone uses a structure or a dwelling – whether it’s a vacation home, a short-term rental, a long-term rental or an owner – continues to use it, quote unquote, as a single-family residence or house. That’s why we’ve gone ahead with the licensing process, so there’s still some accountability and some health and safety checks.

Molitor estimated that about 3% of the county’s 50,000 single-family homes would be subject to the regulations. That means a total of 1,500 units in Pennington County alone.