Staff: new software finds 170 short‑term rentals in Richardson; trash is top complaint

Richardson staff said the city’s new short‑term rental (STR) monitoring software has yielded a more accurate inventory and helped staff target enforcement.

"Currently, there are 111 registered short term rentals and 59 unregistered short term rentals for a total of 170 short term rentals in Richardson," Lindsey Turman, director of Community Services, reported. Turman summarized registration notices, removals and citations sent during both the initial grace period and later enforcement phases and said the platform identifies listings the old system missed.

Police Chief Gary Tittle gave the enforcement perspective: STR calls represented about 0.21% of all police calls for 2025 and year‑to‑date 2026. "One call for service every three days for the police department at a short term rental," Tittle said, emphasizing that callers should use 911 for police‑related incidents to generate timely response and a retrievable record for enforcement. Staff told council that trash complaints are the most frequent STR complaint, followed by high grass/weeds, parking, safety, occupancy and noise.

Staff also noted multifamily STRs present special challenges because platform listings for units often omit unit numbers, requiring coordination with property managers to identify specific units.