HOA bylaws

[Erica1508]

Hello All,

I have had my cottage on Airbnb for abour 4 years now in a community in PA without any issues.  Now that other people in my community want to short term rent their property the HOA has voted to add a registration fee and guest fee for every new guest as well as cap the number of properties that can do short term rentals.  If I am already paying a yearly registration fee to the township as well as paying state tax on my earnings can they charge me a second registration fee and guest fee?  I am the first to short term rental my property 4 years ago and there isn't any laws in the By-laws saying I couldn't.  I feel that I am grandfathered in and shouldn't have to pay any fees.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Kitty-and-Creek0 · Accepted solution]

@Erica1508 

This seems like a question for an attorney...best of luck !

[Mark5952]

I've noted this on other HOA posts but I can't hammer this enough, Be part of the solution by joining the HOA as a Board member to make the recommendations and fix the issues before STRs are excluded.

[Emilie]

Thank you @Mark5952 for sharing this tip, it's very useful for hosts who might come across this thread looking for advice!

Are you part of an HOA yourself? 

[Mark5952]

Yes @Emilie  I've been on the HOA since inception in 2007. 

[Emilie]

That's a long time @Mark5952, congrats! What has been the biggest hosting challenge you've ran into as part of the Association in those years? 

[Pat271]

@Erica1508  I’m not a lawyer, but my observation by seeing what has been happening in different jurisdictions all over the country is that if an HOA doesn’t have specific STR rules explicitly itemized in their bylaws, they can put it to a vote and codify the results. So…if there were no rules, they can vote in the rules. If there were explicit STR rules specified in the bylaws at the time you purchased the property, then it is much harder to prohibit you from doing what the bylaws allowed. This is also true with cities and counties who have STR rules already codified in their regulations. If there are no previous regulations, they can vote the regulations in.

I’ll repeat it again - I’m not a lawyer. @Kitty-and-Creek0 ’s advice is the best.

[Mark5952]

Exactly