"Nomadic" short-term rental host sues Denver, cheered on by others

Ken Chan is a modern nomad, an untethered traveler of the world for work and pleasure, who believes the City of Denver has encroached on his right to move about freely.

In 2021 and 2022, Chan rented out his home on Race Street in the Cole neighborhood while he was traveling, which was most of the year. He did that this year as well, until the Department of Excise and Licenses declined to renew his short-term rental license in August.

Under city rules, homeowners can rent out only their primary residence. Excise and Licenses said that Chan doesn’t have a primary residence on Race Street — or anywhere else for that matter.

“The department has regularly denied short-term rental licenses to individuals who live nomadic lifestyles,” department head Molly Duplechian wrote in her denial Aug. 16.

So, Chan sued Excise and Licenses on Sept. 25 in Denver District Court, alleging that the city’s “vague language” around primary residences wrongly cost him his short-term rental license and the income it has provided him in recent years, resulting in financial hardship.

“The director does not have authority to restrict private individuals from travel as they please and require them to be at home,” the lawsuit said of Duplechian. “A nomadic lifestyle is an individual right that cannot be restricted by an administrative agency.”

A spokesman for Excise and Licenses declined to comment on the litigation.

“We are hoping that a judge will take a good, hard look at this ordinance and tell the City of Denver to make it much more fair for residents,” said attorney Sandra Silva with the Westminster office of Robinson & Henry, who is representing Chan. “That is our end goal.

“If we can effectuate some change and make the process more fair, well that will be a big victory for not only Mr. Chan but short-term rental license holders,” Silva said.

Chan’s legal challenge arrives at a time when new Mayor Mike Johnston is mulling who should run Excise and Licenses in his administration. Some short-term rental hosts have been critical of the department, which they see as too heavy-handed in their denial of permits.

“Homeowners are unhappy and we’re confused,” said host Steve Ramsey. “The language is vague and it’s being used against us. There’s no legal justification for it.”

Ramsey, of Platt Park, is one of a half-dozen hosts who spoke to BusinessDen about their frustrations. He is also on Johnston’s transition team for Excise and Licenses and spoke with the mayor about the topic this summer, according to Ramsey.

Heather Hill hopes there are changes in city government before she reapplies for a rental license next year. Hill, a musician, travels for much of the year and listed her place in LoHi while she was away from Denver, until the city determined it wasn’t a primary residence.

“It didn’t matter that I’m taxed as a primary resident, that I am from here, vote here, have my family here and additional businesses here that have employed many Colorado residents for years, and that I have supportive neighbors and no complaints,” she said.

Whit Allen, a startup founder, used short-term rental income to pay the bills while traveling to trade shows. Like Chan, he was found to be living a “nomadic lifestyle” and denied a renewal of his license because his Five Points condo isn’t a primary residence in the city’s eyes.

“When I think of a nomad, I think of somebody crossing the desert, going point to point, watering hole to watering hole,” Allen said. “I don’t do that. I buy roundtrip tickets.

“I understand the intent of the rule and I agree with it. I want Denverites to have affordable housing. I get it. But I’m not the bad guy. The intent of the rule was to keep out big investors coming in, buying up 20 properties and putting them all on Airbnb. I own one.”

Allen, like other hosts interviewed, is rooting for Chan and applauds him for taking the unusual and pricey step of suing the city for a short-term rental license. Cap Hill host Jill Collins said she “had a visceral reaction reading this lawsuit” because it mirrored her struggles.

In southwest Denver, Paloma Mier may have to sell what she thought was her forever home. She bought it with a Veterans Affairs loan in 2019, just before losing her job to the pandemic, and had to list it on Airbnb in order to pay the bills. Mier said that her renewal was denied earlier this year, after a neighbor falsely complained of parties there.

So, she went to city offices every day last week, asking them to process her reapplication.

“I tell the city, ‘I don’t even want to do Airbnb, I don’t want to deal with you guys, I don’t want to deal with any of this stuff,’” Mier said Friday. “But I’m doing this in order to survive.”

This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.

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“Nomadic” short-term rental host sues Denver, cheered on by others

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