Deckard Technologies, a government-focused tech company that provides software, analytics and insights for communities to create tax equity and fairness, announces an agreement with the HdL Companies to provide comprehensive data on short-term rental (STR) properties. Since the agreement was initially negotiated in mid-summer 2021, the two companies have begun working together on approximately 18 communities in California and Nevada and are collaboratively submitting proposals for others in several Western states.
The HdL Companies offers a tax collection turnkey system that works with cities to help them collect mandated tax revenue, including property taxes, sales tax, cannabis taxes, business licenses, and transient occupancy taxes (TOTs) from hotels, motels and short-term rentals. The STR business is driven by the rapid growth in short-term rentals and needs of local government, helping cities to recover revenue and taxes that support essential public services, including fire, safety, schools, trash pickup, and tourism, especially for cities in high-tourism areas. Prior to signing the agreement with Deckard, HdL gathered STR data from other vendors.
“Simply put, we liked Deckard’s data better,” says Ryan George, Operations Manager at HdL. “Deckard’s platform is better at identifying the type of property – accessory dwelling, owner-occupied, or multi-family units – info that other vendors don’t provide. Their software is exceptionally intuitive; it took our team only a half hour to learn it. In addition, other vendors can capture only the past, and in smaller percentages; Deckard is the only company that can provide future bookings data, which helps us with projections.”
Deckard uses AI and advanced image analysis on its proprietary data collection and storage platform to provide HdL details of STR properties in each locale, identifying whether the property is compliant or not with local ordinances, and a host of specific details, including:
Estimates of recent rental activity and taxes owed;
The address and parcel number of each property;
The owners and/or managers of the property;
Any known future bookings;
Any discrepancy between advertisements and licensing requirements, such as advertising more occupants than are allowed by license or building requirements.
All information provided is in the form of persistent documentation that remains available to assist in any future dispute between the city and the property owners or managers. Deckard also provides statistical and summary information of the property-specific information to identify trends.
According to Nick Del Pego, CEO for Deckard Technologies, “The goal of the two companies working together is to create fairness and tax equity. Many people who have started renting properties just don’t realize they have to pay transient occupancy taxes. They may not even think of STRs as a business, even when they have bought a property specifically to be a rental. Together, we help them move forward doing it correctly. And we provide data so that each community can determine its own best threshold for STRs.”