BELLEVUE, Ky. — Bellevue has battled more than a couple of dozen illegally operated short-term rental properties in recent years, and Mayor Charlie Cleves is calling on state lawmakers to leave the city's right to regulate them intact.
"All of a sudden, five years ago or wherever it was, we started seeing things started popping up here and there, and people weren't getting permits and there were problems," Cleves said.
Under Bellevue's local ordinances, homeowners are required to have physically lived in their home at least 183 days before using it as a short-term rental. Cleves says these illegally operated rentals almost always involve out-of-state investors who have never lived in Kentucky.
WATCH: How Bellevue city leaders say illegal short-term renters are affecting you living there
"When a house comes for sale, and it's one of the reasonable ones, which is $125k to $175k, one of these investors will just buy it," Cleves told us Tuesday. "That means that's another family that can't move to Bellevue to be in the school system, because they do take away all the affordable things."
In April, legislators failed to pass Senate Bill 9, which would have prevented cities from regulating short-term rentals. Cleves is now urging state lawmakers to protect local authority over the issue.
"I want them to protect the sovereignty of Bellevue and let us keep our home rule the way it is, and we decide what's good for us and not them deciding," Cleves said. "They're trying to take that away from us, and that's really bad."
Not all short-term rental operators in Bellevue are operating outside the law. Susan Bartels says she is one of the property owners running a legal short-term rental, but she believes the city's focus should shift to long-term rentals and slumlords instead.
"I've had three long-term rentals next to me for as long as I've lived here, which is 20 years, and they're not regulated," Bartels said. "I understand short-term rentals need to be regulated, but I think long-term rentals need the attention with regulation."
The next Kentucky legislative session is set to begin on Jan. 5, 2027.
