DENVER – A short-term rental license could be revoked for a Denver home where gunfire was reported at a party in November, according to city officials.
Madeline Philley – the owner of the home in the 1000 block of South Madison Street, in Denver's Belcaro neighborhood – was ordered this week to appear at the city's Department of Excise and License in February to show cause as to why the rental license shouldn't be revoked.
Philley had applied for and received the license in September. On Nov. 10, police were called to the home, which was being rented out as an Airbnb, on a report of shots fired at a party, according to the city order in the case. No injuries were reported, but officers found shell casings in the street in front of the home.
The incident violated the city's short-term rental regulations, according to the Excise and License office. In April, the city rolled out new rules, including the "good cause" rule that allows Denver to revoke or sanction a license if a short-term rental "is found to be adversely affecting the public health, safety or welfare of the immediate neighborhood in which the property is located."
The short-term rental license for the home is the second license to face being revoked under the new rules. Gunfire was reported at another Airbnb rental and a show-cause hearing for that incident is scheduled for next week, according to city officials.
Denver has cracked down on short-term rental violations over the last year.
In other cases, four people have been arrested on charges related to violating the short-term rental law, accused of attempting to influence a public servant by signing an affidavit saying they lived at the homes they were renting out.
Denver city code requires the owner of a short-term rental, such as an Airbnb or VRBO, to live at the rental location.
The Denver District Attorney's Office alleged that the four people did not live at the homes.
Charges against one owner, Aaron Elinoff, 34, were dropped in December. Prosecutors did not believe they could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the district attorney's office.
But Elinoff's appeal for his short-term rental license was still denied. Excise and Licenses Director Ashley Kilroy said Elinoff still failed to comply with the rules because the rental property is not his primary residence.
Last March, the Excise and Licenses department revoked the short-term rental license for the owner of a $5 million mansion in Denver's Country Club neighborhood.
The homeowner, Garth Yettick, had to prove in a show-cause hearing that the home was his primary residence, but the department determined he was living elsewhere and revoked his license. Neighbors had reported wild parties at the home and people jumping off the balcony into a pool.
