Chelan County Has New Hotline For Short Term Rental Complaints

Chelan County has a new option to make complaints about short term rental operations - from noise and parking problems to illegal rentals. 

A 24-hour complaint hotline is up and running. 

Chelan County Community Development Director Deanna Walter says it'll provide an important service, especially on weekends when sheriff's deputies are not performing code enforcement. 

"Now people have an avenue to call a company that will then reach out to the owner or the property manager to get compliance on the weekend," said Walter. 

County code requires short term rental operators resolve their violations within an hour. 

The county also has a "three strikes" policy in which an operator can lose their short-term rental permit if they have three unresolved violations.   

The hotline is coming through a real estate data analytics and technology company focused on regulatory compliance.  

Walter says the firm will also be instrumental in tracking down short-term rental operators that don't have permits. 

"They actually look at hundreds of sights on the internet, and are very good at collecting that data, matching up photos," Walter said. "So, they are going to be fantastic at trying to narrow down where the illegal STR's (Short Term Rentals) are." 

In addition, the company will be handling short term rental renewal applications for the county. 

The county has signed a five-year contract with the firm, Deckard Technologies of San Diego, for about $60,000 a year. 

The addition of Deckard's 24 hotline means the public now has three options if they encounter a short-term rental violation in Chelan County: 

• Online: There's an online Short-Term Rental Complaint form at https://complaints-str.deckard.com/chelan-wa-str-complaints. The complaint will be forwarded to Community Development and Code Enforcement and a record of complaint is made on the property. 

• Hotline: The hotline is 509-293-4577. It's monitored by a Deckard staff member who will reach out to the short-term rental’s local contact and ask that these complaint be addressed. If the issue is not abated within an hour, people are encouraged to call the hotline again so it can be documented that a verified complaint was not addressed. The matter then will be turned over to Code Enforcement. In addition, a hotline report is sent daily to Community Development. 

• Code Enforcement: Complaints can be made directly to Code Enforcement at www.co.chelan.wa.us/community-development/pages/code-enforcement. From the county website, a PDF can be downloaded and filled out and then email it to cd.code.enforcement@co.chelan.wa.us. Residents can also call Community Development at 509-667-6225 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Chelan County has three Code Enforcement deputies who work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. 

Residents can also call the non-emergency sheriff's line on the weekend, but short-term rental code enforcement will only be addressed if a deputy is available. 

Walter says the 24-hour hotline has gotten up and running in a relatively short period of time after a contract was signed late last summer. 

She said Chelan County is the first jurisdiction in Washington to use Deckard Technologies.