Update on Philly Airbnb rules

Image of Philadelphia buildings at the top of an article about the Philly Airbnb rules in 2023

It’s been two years since Philly decided to create a license for Airbnb rentals, over a year since we first looked at Philly’s Airbnb rules in this space. The regulations for the Airbnb license are tricky, but with determination and focus we worked them out, then shared our findings with you in an easy-to-use guide – problem solved! Let’s look at the result of our work… Oh. Oh no.

Image of stormtroopers from Star Wars in formation used as a joke to represent Airbnb's enforcement of the City of Philadelphia's licensing rules

Live look at Airbnb’s enforcement action in Philadelphia

Okay, in the last month the City of Philadelphia has directed Airbnb and Vrbo to stop listing any stays (called short-term rentals) without a Philadelphia license. This is a problem, because in the last two years, I guess only 10-15% of Airbnb/Vrbo operators got a license? People! Come on! 

Alright, alright: I understand it’s not that easy to get a short-term rental license in Philly. I also understand that not every property is zoned for short-term rental under City laws. So here’s a quick reminder of the steps to a Philadelphia Airbnb license: 

Make sure your Philly Airbnb or Vrbo is located in the right zoning district

Each piece of land in Philly is assigned to a zoning district. That zoning district has rules telling you how you can and can’t use your parcel. It might even have an overlay district with more rules about what you can and can’t do with the land. 

Even before the Philadelphia Airbnb license was created (again, back in 2021!), it was still illegal to use a unit as an Airbnb if the property’s zoning didn’t allow that activity.  You must register the use of the place before you start renting it out on Vrbo or Booking.com or Arbnb. 

There are two types of zoning involved here: 

Zoning that allows you to use your own home as a Philly Airbnb

This is the easiest way to get a license for short-term rental: loan out your own personal space (or part of it) on Airbnb, Booking.com, or whatever else. The City of Philadelphia calls this “Limited Lodging,” and they’ll let you do it anywhere you actually live:* you can rent out an apartment, for example, only if you live there. You can’t get that apartment zoned for Limited Lodging if you own it but don’t live in it. 

*Okay, it’s Philly: not truly anywhere; see below… 

There’s a catch for renters: if you want to use your rented apartment as a Vrbo, you still need approval from your landlord. Philly wants to see your damn lease (really). 

Oh, and if you’re a renter, you can’t get a zoning permit for Limited Lodging at all in the Tenth Councilmanic District (the far Northeast). In this area, the primary resident must also own the property to qualify for an Airbnb license.  No renters posting on Vrbo in the Tenth!  (We don’t know why; maybe Brian O’Neil just doesn’t think renters can be trusted.) 

Moving on! 

Zoning that allows you to use any property you own or rent, even if you don’t live there, as a Philly Airbnb

If you want to list a space on Airbnb but you don’t live there, you have one other option: register the place as a hotel! 

That sounds wild, but this is the rule Philly developed for Airbnbs outside of someone’s own home: they are treated, for zoning purposes, as hotels. Once you have a permit for use as a hotel, you can go ahead and list the place on Vrbo and all the other short-term rental platforms. 

This is probably the sticking point for a lot of Airbnb operators in Philadelphia: it’s likely that most of the units at risk of removal from the platform are located in residentially-zoned areas where hotels aren’t allowed; at least not without a variance (which can take up to a year). The City of Philadelphia is simply barring a lot of people from operating an Airbnb on their property or in a rented apartment, and barring them on purpose. 

If you operate an Airbnb, this all probably sounds outrageous; but the City has received a lot of complaints about Airbnbs over the years and is attempting to respond to them. If you want them to scale back these new laws, you need to take it up with City Council! Pressure on Council created these regulations, and it might eventually ease them.  

Set up your Philly Airbnb as a legal business

Whether you’re going to offer limited lodging or a “hotel” Airbnb, you need to pay taxes on the operation. This means you need to have a Commercial Activity License and a Philadelphia Tax ID on file with the City of Philadelphia. You also must file the Net Profits Tax, the Business Income and Receipts tax, and – if you have employees – the notorious Wage Tax

Now, the City of Philadelphia also instituted a Hotel Tax for any lodging outside typical residential rental. If you use Airbnb, Vrbo, or another major platform, you do not need to think twice about this: the platform will pay the tax on all the short-term rentals in Philly. However, if you want to work outside of Airbnb, by offering short-term rentals through your own app or website, you have to make sure to collect the Hotel Tax! Check out the Hotel Tax reference page on the City’s website for more information. 

Get the correct license for your Philly Airbnb

When we at Permit Philly casually mention the “Airbnb license,” we really mean two different licenses, which match the zoning categories noted above: you can get a license for Airbnb in your own residence, or you can get a different license to rent rooms as a hotel. The main thing to know is that just because you have the right zoning and the proper business licenses doesn’t mean you’re finished: you also need to apply for the license itself! 

(The second thing to know: if you are operating a “hotel,” you need to meet the typical requirements of a commercial building – even in your own home. Make sure you have proper occupancy documents matching the zoning before you apply for a hotel license!) 

And if you need help with the Philadelphia Airbnb License…  

Please feel free to contact Permit Philly! You can give us a call at (267)744-4200 or send us a message at contact@permitphilly.com. We can obtain a Philly Airbnb license for your own residence in no time, and help you figure out whether a hotel license is feasible for your property – and we get that license for you, too! 

The Philadelphia Excavation License

Excavation site for Jefferson Health Specialty Care Pavillion | Philadelphia Excavation Contractor Permit

Excavation work in Philadelphia is about to get a lot more difficult. Of course the days are long gone when you could just stick a shovel in the ground and start building a house: the City requires plans, approval from the Water and Streets Departments, and a wheelbarrow of paperwork before it will permit new construction. But a whole other wheelbarrow will be required come January 1st, 2023, when Licenses and Inspections institutes the Philadelphia excavation license (and related excavation permit).

This means that – prepare yourself emotionally, contractors – every GC in Philadelphia needs to get a new Philadelphia excavation contractor license before they’re allowed to dig out any foundation anywhere in town, starting 2023.

You have questions. We have answers!

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Coronavirus and Philadelphia Permits (Update)

Coronavirus in Philadelphia (Update)

Greetings from Permit Philly’s top secret quarantine lair! We are furiously washing our hands and really getting deep into Netflix’s recommended list of Intense Movies Featuring a Strong Female Lead. (It’s mostly Salt. Don’t judge.) We hope you and yours are safe, but also hope we can use some of this newly free time to let you know what’s happening to Philadelphia permits during the COVID-19 shutdown. [UPDATE: Construction is legal again as of May 1st; however, there are a lot of limitations on the sort of construction that can continue. Notably, only permits issued on or before March 20 allow construction for now. Review Philadelphia’s guide to restarting construction right here. You can also read the Governor’s order for reopening construction sites. Philly city offices are still closed, so read on for an explanation of how permits are being processed during the closure.]

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Philadelphia Permits Go Online!

Philadelphia Permits Go Online!

This was written shortly before L&I closed its permit center and review boards on March 16th, 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. For an update on this situation and other permit regulations, please see our blog here.

If you’ve read this blog, you might have marveled at the complexity of Philadelphia permits. Maybe not the way that you might marvel at a sunrise, but definitely the way you gawk at a the 76 interchange with the Vine Street Expressway at rush hour: there’s a lot happening, very slowly, in a creaky system designed decades ago, and everyone involved is a little testy. And even though there’s always renovation, big problems in the system are never solved. In the Philly permit system, one of the glaring problems is that you can’t submit applications online. But that’s changing: finally, after literal years of delay and false starts (this really is like highway construction, now that I think about it), Philadelphia permits are going online.

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Permit Philly is on the Radio! (Or a Podcast. Whatever.)

Philadelphia Permitting on the Radio

Last month, Eleena de Lisser invited me (Brett) on her show – the Jumpstart Philly Real Estate Radio Show – to talk permits! Permit heads and paperwork junkies, I see you: this is everything you ever wanted to know about Philadelphia permitting, Licenses and Inspections, permit violations, and the exact turning radius allowed for a vehicle crossing a curb cut in a residential lot!

(It didn’t get that technical.)

Eleena asked me about Permit Philly – how it started, how I started working in permits despite a background in music, and what services Permit Philly provides to those sailing the dark, repetitive waters of Philadelphia permitting. We talked a little about the permitting process, and touched on building permits, changes to Philadelphia’s building codes earlier this year, zoning permits, and variances.

Eleena is a great host, and you should check out her show! Don’t worry: it comes in the form of a podcast. She has a million interesting guests, and also me! Give the episode a listen, then read more about Philadelphia permitting in the Permit Philly blog – and when you’re sick of that, listen to some more of the Jumpstart Philly Real Estate Radio Show, or just check out Jumpstart Germantown itself!

Find our episode right here, or on Apple Podcasts or Google Music.

Four Things to Know About the Building Code Changes in Philly

If you hang out with developers and architects in Philly, you’ll probably pick up their vibe these days: severe stress.  Why?  Because on April 1st, we get a slew of official changes to the Philadelphia building codes.  Yep, the city of Philadelphia will switch over to the 2018 International Building Code for non-residential construction, and the 2015 International Residential Code for residential construction.  All new zoning permit and building permit applications will be reviewed under the standards of the 2018 IBC and 2015 IRC.  This is probably going to be a mess: plans drawn up under the previous code regime are still under review, and architects and developers may have drafted plans for work under the old codes – only to find that, as of April 1, those plans aren’t up to date.

But it doesn’t have to be a catastrophe!  Prepare now for the changes to the Philadelphia building codes, and it’ll go off without a hitch.  These are the four things you need to know about the upcoming changes to the building code.  (Exclamation points for appropriate dramatic effect.)

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Top Five Things to Know About Philly Permits in 2019

Top Five Things to Know About Philly Permits in 2019

Happy New Year!  Permit Philly hopes everyone has recovered from the Mummer apocalypse and a month of eggnog.  Since we have a brand-new year on our hands, I thought it would be a good idea to review what’s changed in Philadelphia permits over the last year, and explain how the changes affect you.  So here are the top five things to know about Philly permits in 2019.

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Philadelphia EZ Permits

Philadelphia EZ Permits can be used to renovate single-family homes like these

The City of Philadelphia offers a type of building, electrical, and plumbing permit called an EZ Permit.  This is because it’s easier to get than a normal permit (don’t look at me like that – I’m not in charge of naming this stuff).  Philadelphia EZ Permits are the source of a lot of hope and a lot of confusion for homeowners and developers.  In this post, we’re going to try to clear some of the mud off the Philadelphia EZ Permit.

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