This letter highlights the importance of enforcing the City of New Orleans (City) short-term rental regulations. This letter will also address the potential for the City to collect a significant amount of money from fines for short-term rental violations. The Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) concern with the City’s ongoing short-term rental issues is primarily focused on the City’s lack of enforcement of its own short-term rental regulations. If implemented effectively, the City’s new plan to quadruple the number of City workers dedicated to short-term rental enforcement could vastly increase the number of violations brought up for administrative hearings, deterring illegal short-term rentals.

For the 12 illegal short-term rentals identified by the OIG, the auditors reviewed all nights booked for the year ending on December 31, 2022. Per the terms of the above-described ordinance, the City may be able to levy and collect a minimum fine of $500 per night, which could result in fines of at least $519,500 for the year 2022

he City of New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a performance audit of the City of New Orleans’ (City) Department of Safety and Permits (S&P). The objective of the audit was to determine if S&P inspectors (City inspectors) conducted their inspections in accordance with S&P policies and procedures. The scope of the audit was all building, mechanical and electrical permit inspections conducted by City inspectors during the period April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020.

The audit resulted in the following major findings:

• City inspectors did not perform in-person inspections for 20% of the inspections selected for review
• City inspectors did not spend adequate time conducting inspections, spending ten minutes or less for 40% of the inspections reviewed.
• City inspectors did not upload required documentation into LAMA in violation of S&P policies and procedures.