<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<baltimore-city-law heading="§ 48-1 Definitions.">
  <section prefix="§" num="48-1" heading="Definitions.">
    <para num="(a)" heading="In general.">In this subtitle, the following terms have the meanings indicated.</para>
    <para num="(b)" heading="Booking transaction.">“Booking transaction” means a reservation transaction between a  host and a prospective transient guest for a short-term residential rental.</para>
    <para num="(c)" heading="Dwelling unit.">“Dwelling unit” has the meaning stated in § 202.2 of the Baltimore City &lt;cite data-path="|building-codes|II"&gt;Building Code&lt;/cite&gt;.</para>
    <para num="(d)" heading="Host.">“Host” means the owner of a dwelling unit who provides or offers to provide all or part of the dwelling unit for short-term residential rental use in exchange for a fee.</para>
    <para num="(e)" heading="Hosting platform.">“Hosting platform” means an internet-based entity that, in exchange for a fee:<para num="(1)">facilitates reservations of short-term residential rentals;</para>
      <para num="(2)">serves as a conduit of communication between hosts and transient guests; or</para>
      <para num="(3)">otherwise facilitates booking transactions for short-term residential rentals.</para>
    </para>
    <para num="(f)" heading="Housing Commissioner; Commissioner.">“Housing Commissioner” or “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Housing and Community Development or the Commissioner’s designee.</para>
    <para num="(g)" heading="Permanent residence.">
      <para num="(1)">“Permanent residence” means a dwelling unit:<para num="(i)">in which the owner resides for an aggregate of at least 180  days annually; and</para>
        <para num="(ii)">that is the owner’s usual place of return for housing, as documented by at least one of the following:<para num="(A)">driver’s license;</para>
          <para num="(B)">voter registration; or</para>
          <para num="(C)">official designation of the dwelling unit as the owner’s principle residence in accordance with the criteria governing the State Homestead Tax Credit.</para>
        </para>
      </para>
      <para num="(2)">For purposes of this subtitle, a host may have only 1 “permanent residence”.</para>
    </para>
    <para num="(h)" heading="Short-term residential rental.">“Short-term residential rental” means the use, facilitated in whole or in part by a hosting platform, of all or any part of a dwelling unit to provide accommodations to transient guests for sleeping or lodging purposes in exchange for a fee.</para>
    <para num="(i)" heading="Transient guest.">
      <para num="(1)" heading="Ancillary definition of “transient”.">In this subsection, “transient” means any person who occupies, or has been given the right to occupy, sleeping or lodging accommodations for a period of fewer than 90 consecutive days.</para>
      <para num="(2)" heading="“Transient guest” defined.">“Transient guest” means any transient who uses a hosting platform to facilitate a short-term residential rental.</para>
    </para>
    <annotation type="History">Ord. 19-217</annotation>
  </section>
</baltimore-city-law>
