You should know who lives next door to you. They should have to look you in the eye every day. There's no accountability when somebody's staying there for 24 to 48 hours.Joey Artino, Lakewood resident

Joey Artino has spent five years building a life on his Lakewood street — a neighborhood he chose for its schools, its families, and its tight-knit feel. Then a short-term rental opened next door, and the dynamic shifted. Weekend guests cycle in and out. Late-night noise bleeds through the walls. Parking clogs the block.

What frustrates Artino most isn't the inconvenience — it's the structural problem underneath it. Guests stay 24 to 48 hours and move on. Hosts may live across the country. Platforms like Airbnb offer a support line, but the home was also listed on at least two other rental services — meaning a complaint to one company doesn't solve the problem.

How Much Do You Know About Short-Term Rental Rules?

Four questions. See how Lakewood — and your city — stacks up.

Does Lakewood currently have any regulations specifically governing short-term rentals like Airbnb?

• Yes, there are clear rules in place — Not yet. As of this reporting, Lakewood has no short-term rental ordinance on the books. City Council is studying options now.
• No — it's a regulatory gap — Correct. Lakewood currently lacks any STR-specific rules, which is exactly why neighbors and council members are pushing for action.

In most U.S. cities with STR rules, who is typically required to register?

• Just the rental platform (Airbnb, VRBO) — Platforms are sometimes taxed, but most effective ordinances put the burden on individual property owners — not the apps.
• The property owner or host — Right. Most successful STR regulations require hosts to obtain a local license, maintain liability insurance, and keep contact info on file with the city.
• The guests staying at the property — Guests have almost no legal obligation under STR rules. The accountability typically falls on the host and the platform.

Short-term rentals in Ohio are subject to which of the following?

• Hotel/lodging taxes in most jurisdictions — Correct. Ohio allows municipalities to collect lodging taxes from STRs — but only if they've passed an ordinance to require it. Without rules, cities like Lakewood may be missing out on revenue.
• No taxes — they're private home sales — STRs are not tax-exempt. Ohio law allows municipalities to apply lodging taxes, and many platforms now collect and remit these automatically when required.
• Only federal income tax — Federal income tax applies, but local lodging taxes are also on the table for cities that pass the right ordinances.

If a neighbor's Airbnb is consistently causing noise problems, what's currently the most effective option in an unregulated city?

• File a complaint with the city's STR office — If there's no STR ordinance, there's no STR office. That's the core problem residents in Lakewood are facing right now.
• Call police and document every incident — This is the main recourse in an unregulated environment — which is exactly why one Lakewood property racked up 58 police calls in two years. It's reactive, not preventive.
• Contact the platform's neighborhood support line — Airbnb does have a Neighborhood Support Line, and they say they take complaints seriously. But if the property is listed on multiple platforms, one complaint may not be enough.

Lakewood City Council member Tom Bullock confirms the problem isn't isolated to one street. He says there are dozens of homes across the city operating as short-term rentals, and a subset of them are generating serious quality-of-life complaints from neighbors.

Bullock and his colleagues are now benchmarking against other cities — studying what's worked, what's failed, and what a Lakewood-specific ordinance might look like. He's targeting a proposal by summer, though Artino says every week without rules is another week his neighborhood absorbs the cost.

How Other Cities Handle Short-Term Rentals

Artino's vision for regulation goes beyond noise complaints. He wants to see outside investors — people who buy Lakewood homes purely as rental assets without living in or near the city — restricted or banned from the STR market. His argument: neighborhood character is shaped by people who have skin in the game, not by distant landlords optimizing for nightly rates.

Airbnb, for its part, says it cares about neighborhood harmony and that disturbances are rare. But the fact that a single property appeared on at least three separate booking platforms underscores why platform-level responses may never be enough — and why city-level rules may be the only durable solution.

What Lakewood Could Look Like With STR Rules

Today (No Ordinance)

• 0 Registered STRs No tracking system exists
• $0 Lodging Tax Collected No city ordinance in place
• Neighbors must call police — reactive only
• Outside investors face no local restrictions
• No owner contact info required on file

Proposed Framework

• Tracked All STRs Registered Annual license required
• New Lodging Tax Revenue Could fund city services
• Dedicated complaint channel for neighbors
• Possible limits on non-resident investors
• Emergency contact required for every listing

Our neighborhoods should not be run by big corporations like Airbnb. We shouldn't be catering to outside investors.Joey Artino, Lakewood resident pushing for city regulation

Claims & Context: Sorting Through the STR Debate

Airbnb takes disturbance complaints seriously and acts quickly.

Verdict: mixed

Airbnb says it has a Neighborhood Support Line and reviews all reports. However, the Lakewood property generating 58 police calls was also listed on at least two other platforms — meaning Airbnb action alone wouldn't resolve the problem. Multi-platform listings are a structural gap no single company can close.

Most short-term rental properties cause serious problems for neighbors.

Verdict: mostly false

Council member Bullock says there are dozens of STRs in Lakewood, but only a subset are generating complaints. Many operate without incident. The challenge is that even a handful of problem properties can significantly impact residential streets — and without a registry, the city can't track them.

Cities can legally ban outside investors from owning short-term rentals.

Verdict: mixed

Some cities require owner-occupancy (the host must live at or near the property), which effectively limits investor-only rentals. Full bans on non-residents owning property face legal challenges under property rights law. Owner-occupancy requirements are the most legally durable approach and are used in parts of Nashville and New Orleans.

Lakewood is missing out on lodging tax revenue from STRs.

Verdict: true

Without a short-term rental ordinance, Lakewood has no mechanism to collect lodging taxes from STR operators. Ohio law permits municipalities to levy lodging taxes — many already do — but the ordinance must exist first. Neighbors and officials cite this as a financial fairness argument for regulation.

What Residents Can Do Right Now

1. Document every incident — Log dates, times, and nature of disturbances at a nearby STR. These records are critical evidence when advocating for regulations at City Council.
2. File police reports consistently — Call Lakewood Police for noise, parking, or suspicious activity. Without a complaint system, police call logs are the only official trail — and they work as shown by the 58-call record that sparked this debate.
3. Use Airbnb's Neighborhood Support Line — Even if the home is on multiple platforms, report to each one individually. It creates a paper trail and may prompt platform-level action.
4. Contact your City Council member — Lakewood Council is actively developing STR guidelines. Public pressure accelerates timelines. Council member Tom Bullock has said he hopes to propose something by summer.
5. Show up to public meetings — When a draft ordinance is proposed, the public comment period is your strongest lever. Cities that move fastest on STR rules often do so after organized neighbor turnout.

How Other Ohio Cities Have Handled This

Columbus enacted short-term rental regulations requiring all STR operators to obtain an annual permit and pay the city's 5.75% lodging tax. Hosts must designate a local contact reachable around the clock.

Cincinnati passed an STR ordinance that limits the number of non-owner-occupied rentals per block, directly targeting the investor problem Lakewood residents are concerned about. Violations can result in permit revocation.

Cleveland itself has not passed a comprehensive STR ordinance, though the issue has come up in community development discussions in high-activity neighborhoods like Ohio City and Tremont. Without city-wide rules, enforcement is complaint-driven and inconsistent.

The National League of Cities has published model STR ordinance language that many mid-sized Ohio municipalities are using as a starting point — which is reportedly what Lakewood's council is reviewing as part of its benchmarking process.

Make Your Voice Heard in Lakewood

• Contact Lakewood City Council: Council member Tom Bullock and his colleagues are actively shaping STR rules. Share your experience — good or bad.
• Report a Problem STR to Airbnb: Use Airbnb's Neighborhood Support Line to flag a nearby listing. Also report to VRBO and any other platforms the property appears on.
• File a Police Report: Lakewood Police: call for noise, parking violations, or suspicious activity. Documentation builds the public record needed for legislative action.
• Tip News 5 Cleveland Reporter Nadeen Abusada: Have a short-term rental story to share from your neighborhood? Nadeen is covering this issue across Cuyahoga County.

Sources & References

• Primary source: local-news — Nadeen Abusada
• Lakewood Police Department — Police call records for the Delaware Avenue-area short-term rental property (2022–2024), as reported by News 5 Cleveland
• National League of Cities — Model short-term rental ordinance guidance and comparative city policy frameworks
• Ohio Revised Code — Municipal Lodging Taxes — Authority for Ohio municipalities to levy lodging taxes on short-term rental operators
• Airbnb Neighborhood Support — Platform policy on neighbor complaints and community disturbance response