notice of zoning violation

[D0]

I just got back from a great airbnb trip to ibiza Spain.  I received a letter from my township that is a notice of a zoning violation cease and desist.  I have  my place rented most of the summer for the weekends.  They said I am operating a bed and breakfast.  It comes down to a neighbour that does not like the idea of me listing on airbnb.  so ignorant.  

Anyway, any insight is appreciated. Have you had any experience with the township or zoning.  I am so upset.  I have my house rented a lot this summer.  I love airbnb.  i think it is amazing.  Any input or knowledge would be appreciated.  how to approach this situation.  I have been researching since my arrival home.  way to come back to reality of a closed mind.  

[Chrissy0]

I've always claimed it on my taxes.  There is not one residential zone that will allow short-term rentals without a variance which essentially means the legalization of it means nothing.  When they legalized it, it was supposed to amend the zoning codes for residential area.  When I called L&I the woman at the information desk said if I wanted to rent a room I could.  She made it sound like it was no problem at all.  

[Karin5]

I would think if you live on your property then the property is still being used for what it is zoned for, which is residential. I would not call it operating a bed and breakfast if its an owner occupied property.

[David126]

A Bed and Breakfast I would assume is where the person who owns it lives on site, well that is what is has meant traditionally. Mind you the local Best Western the couple that own it live on site.

[Karin5]

a best western also has a lot more than 1 room. Maybe I should have added that in my last post, but if an owner lives on the property and rents just 1 room, then that would be enough to be called a bed and breakfast. Multiple rooms, yes.

[David126]

Zoning regulations obviously vary but not come across one where they specify how many rooms you have, usually duration is the issue, you rent for say less than 30 days.

[Jennifer178]

I too live in Philly and my street is mixed-use zoned for residential and commercial. I think the problem is often if say you provide breakfast then you need a license to serve food and they can get you that way.  

[Karin5]

I provide breakfast for my guests but just basic foods such as cereal, yogurt, but I do not cook for them. I also let guests can use the kitchen to cook their own foods. 

I do not feel I am operating a BnB or tourist house because I rent just to 1 guest family at a time and we share all common areas of the house. From what I read BnB's and tourist homes have multiple separately- listed rooms. Tourist homes are not owner-occupied, BnB's are owner-occupied but the owner has completely separate living quarters and the kitchen is private.

I've not come across one BnB where they let guests use the kitchen.

It seems most of us who had problems with our local governments are home-sharers (which would be me as well). If we own and live on the property, home-sharing should be our right. 

Home-sharing has been around for years.

Many small towns have outdated code books so nothing would have been said about home-sharing or short-term rentals. My town, especially, has no clue what Airbnb is. While the responsible hosting page says "check your laws" but those who live in little, quaint historic towns will likely have nothing in the code books because their code books are old.

[Karin5]

I posted this on another thread, but I will also post it here.

I've been an Airbnb host since January 2015 and never had an issue. In June of this year, a neighbor complained to the township, for some unknown reason (the officer refused to give me details of the complaint). I never received a cease and desist order...just her business card on my door that said "please call me". I responded to the notice and she said there were "two recent complaints", but no information on the complaints. She told me to apply for a variance or cease operations.

I applied for the variance. Back in August,I went to a zoning hearing board meeting for my township due to a neighbor complaint. The variance was denied because they said "tourist home operations are only allowed in the commercial district" and the neighbors who showed up opposed it. I told them there are so many other hosts in the town, are they doing this variance thing too? They were not aware of the other hosts. There's about 20 or so in my town. The zoning officer said "we are going after them and shutting them down?:. That never happened. The listings are still active and some new hosts just popped up.

One host in my township contacted me and told me they got the same thing back in September...the officer's business card taped to their door saying "please call me". They were told to apply for a variance too, but they must have fought it somehow and they also said they received nothing since then. I contacted them today and they said they never applied for that variance or received anything since then. They are still operating as of now.

I live on my property and just rent one room, so I am not operating a tourist house. It is my property which I own and live in. It should be my right.  My guests were not disturbing anyone. They kept to themselves, as I did too.

I was to receive a letter to appeal the denial which was to be done at the county (not the township). I was told I could keep operating until then. But I never received the letter or anything from the township or the county. I thought this just went away as the township thought there was too many hosts and they figured they would all fight it.

Since I never received an official cease operations, and that would have happened if the appeal was denied, but as I said I received nothing so I was never officially asked to stop Airbnb.

Out of nowhere I see this letter from the municipal court in my mailbox when I get home from work. It was not sent by certified mail. It was a court summons! The code officer stated in the summons "failed to abide by zoning hearing board decision to stop airbnb rental" and recommended maximum fine. I find it odd that it was not sent by certified mail...I would think something like this would be sent by certified mail. What if it got lost in the mail?

But I was told after the meeting I could keep operating until I got the letter to appeal but I never got the letter. The other host I was in contact never received anything to this day. There's so many other hosts in my town, as I mentioned before. Why are they still operating after I was told "they will go after them and shut them down". The other hosts are doing the exact same thing as I am so if I am in violation, so are they.

I feel I am being harassed and bullied. I'm not going to contact an attorney as I dont have the money, plus they are useless in a case like this. When I contacted one when this whole thing started, he sided more with the township instead of me.

Please nobody say "you didn't research the codes" as there was NOTHING about short term rentals when I started Airbnb. It's my property, it should be my right. 

I feel this is harassment and abuse. The other hosts in my town are still operating and the code enforcement never made other hosts apply for the variance, and never "went after them and shut them down" as they said they were going to do. 

[Dee33]

I posted this in another thread but it appears that post was archived, so am re-posting here.

Here is the thing, people hear the word "Airbnb" and lose their minds. There is no law anywhere, as far as I know, that can stop you from using Airbnb. They can only stop you from using Airbnb *for certain purposes* that are not allowed by local zoning. Therefore, --for example-- if your zoning permits you to rent rooms for more than 30 days, you can use Airbnb in that way. Continue on listing your property, just do it ways that do not violate zoning. Are you aware of this sub-site which features longer term Airbnb? https://www.airbnb.com/sublets

The initial note on the door was probably based solely on the *assumption* that you were using Airbnb to violate the zoning code. That is how I replied to the letter I received -- that their assumption is incorrect. I am allowed to do several things with my property, including having roommates and renting rooms to non-transients. That is how I use Airbnb and I am not going to stop using it as a vehicle to advertise vacancies unless they can demonstrate they have authority to regulate how I advertise.

Airbnb is just a platform; in terms of legality it is no different than the classified ads in the newspapers or Craigslist. It is what you do with it that counts. You could easily advertise an an illegal short term rental in either of those venues as well. I dispute the entire notion that Airbnb automatically =  illegal. It doesn't.

I do not yet know whether they are going to leave me alone now but I think it is important for you to challenge assumptions and accusations that are lobbed at you without any proof. Can they PROVE you are still doing short term rental. Where is the evidence? Your public Airbnb calendar is not definitive, since you may have merely blocked days for your own convenience. The minimum number of days is also not proof; perhaps you have a thirty day renter who would like to extend by a couple of days so you have modified your calendar to permit that. Maybe your neighbors have seen your friends and family coming to visit and assumed they were short term renters when they were not. 

Do not allow them to use your defense of Airbnb against you. You need to question the entire premise of their argument.

(On another, but related, note. In my case I have a strong suspicion --based on long history of the Neighbor Most Likely To Be Behind This-- that all this is really about having *brown people* in the neighborhood.) I am sorry to say this, but I believe that is part of it.  And, I have every intention of making this an issue about the complainant if necessary in the future. It is a violation of the Fair Housing to discriminate ... perhaps you might want to pose the question in court: Is this is what your community is trying to accomplish? Because that would be very, very bad.

[David126]

@Dee33

I agree with you that AirBnB is not different in general to any other medium you may advertise with.

With regards to evidence from your listing you can of course set a 30 day or whatever is the legal limit as a minimum and showing that would help with any discussion regarding your listing and meeting zoning laws.

I have a feeling that issues arise when people list with no such minimum and the zoning does.

[Dee33]

@David126

True those details do help. In my case, though, I was absolutely shocked to read the town's notice which is basically an attempt to ban the entire Airbnb platform. The wording of their notice is so poor that it is obvious they have no real understanding of how the platform works. They clearly do not realize that (a) breakfast is at the option of each host (b) the length of stay is controllable by the host.

I educated them as politely as possible without using the real words I wanted to deploy. The letter was very threatening and it is obvious they have stalked me online. It is political and they threatened me without having the slightest clue about all possible Airbnb use cases and how those might map to other permissible uses under the zoning ordinance. 

[Tim57]

My place is in New York (not NYC) & New York has the most anti home sharing laws in the nation.  It is illegal to list your property if it is a multi unit building -- more than 4 units...has been since 2010.  To further enforce the rule, posting such dwelling on the internet can result in fines of up to $7,500.00

My place is a single family unit out of side NYC  The local government bans rents of under 30 days however--although there is no real law.  I was sanctioned once so far by the city.  I have to be very careful who I rent to and warn them about city officials coming to the door.

The state has also banned UBER outside of NYC.  Inside NYC, taxes and fees for UBER drviers exceed $6,500 per year but they can operate.

Unfortunate for the state, the upstate region is very depressed as the population has shrunk dramatically over the last 20 years.  Both Airbnb are innovative ways for  ordinary folks to earn extra money but in New York State you need to have money, power and strong lobby.  If you don't pay up, the deck is stacked against you.  The last three leaders of the legislature are in jail, enough said.

[Karin5]

@Dee33

I am not sure what really went on code enforcement's heads or in the neighbor's heads when I got reported. I am also teetering towards the theory that my neighbors saw people of many different ethnic backgrounds (I am not trying to bring race into this, but I am in an all-white neighborhood) They must have had too much time on their hands to keep monitoring my property and taking note of the different cars.

Me, on the other hand, if I saw a neighbor having many different cars coming and going, had many visitors of different backgrounds, and they kept to themselves and never disturbed me...my reaction would be "so what?"

I do not have the time to keep watch on what is going on with other people's property. I would only make it an issue if it caused me some disturbance or harm.

Code enforcement did not indicate that I had rowdy guests or anything like that (I'm sure I would have been told if that was the case) I am convinced it comes down to bored neighbors getting nosy and wondered what was going on. Some say maybe it was by jealous neighbors because I have this other income source, and think I'm making good money (that fact is airbnb does not make me wealthy)

I could not find anything in my town's codebooks on how many days define a "transient guest" but generally, the rule is more than 30 days and they are not considered a transient. I am not talking to my township because I have a feeling their are using their own definitions to discourage me and not going by what is officially defined in the code books. That is why I'm working with a lawyer. Continuing communications with the township may encourage them to create ordinances against me rather than for me.

Renting a room in a home is nothing new, even to my little old-fashioned township. In my case it's inappropriate to say "renting a room" as my guests had full access to the house, including using the kitchen to cook their own meals. I could not expect someone staying for a week or so to go to a restaurant every day!

The only way code enforcement could see if I was still doing short-term is they can see my public reviews, and now it looks like the reviews show the dates of when the guests stayed. I have mine set for a 30-day minimum. If they still search for mine, it will not immediately come up in the search results unless they set specific dates. They may not know how to do that since they are so clueless about airbnb.

That is right, that was wrong for neighbors to assume any car with an out-of-state plate was an Airbnb guest. How do they know they were not family or friends from out of town visiting, and had a rental car?

Code enforcement said I was operating a "tourist home" but I do not believe I fit the definition of a tourist home when I have just 1 room to one guest (or guest family) available, and I live on the property, and share the house with them.

[Tim57]

I rented to an African American couple and week later recieved a notice from the town that I was running an "illegal" hotel.  Not a surprise, I guess

[Dee33]

Nope. No surprise.

I think the first question should always be, "what makes you think I am violating any laws? Is that my African-American friends were here on vacation for a week?"

Stay woke.