Can an HOA restrict individual room rentals when the owner is present?

Answered!
Noy0
Level 2
Hollywood, FL

Can an HOA restrict individual room rentals when the owner is present?

Clearly when you live in an HOA governed community there are rules to live by.  

The vast majority of those rules have to do with what you can and can not do with the OUTSIDE of your home.  The HOA can dictate what colors you are allowed to paint the exterior of your home, but certainly not the interior.  

There are also rules reistricting  the rental of the entire property.  

But what if you are not renting out the entire property,  what if you are simply renting out a room as an owner occupied home.  I do not feel the HOA has the right to tell an owner who else can live in the house (for free), nor which roommates he can rent to.  So given that much,  can they really legally dictate what happens with room rentals, in a house that the owner is occupying?  

 

The HOA docs only covers the rental of the house, not rooms, so I just don't see where that that authority comes from.  Would love some feedback on this, as I am about to have an issue with my own HOA.  

1 Best Answer

Seems your issue is one of cars and traffic.  Why blame it on renters?  Blame it on family dynamics.  Do renters only drive cars?  I think many non renter guests also drive cars  and make a community busy.   Isn’t your issue your homes are to big?  For instance, I have a seven bedroom home and 4 kids that each had a vehicle.  Made my place grand central station for about 12 years with them and their friends coming and going.  I Remember complaining about a few neighbors that did the same thing when my kids were younger and not driving.  Now I am an empty nester and do Airbnb and get one vehicle once in awhile from a renter instead of 5, 6, 7 vehicles from my kids and myself every day.  I am sure every one of my neighbors would prefer my renters traffic compared to my kids and their friends or if I sold the home to another family that would have the right family   dynamics for the home size.  The change of family dynamics has changed your neighbourhood.  Your just not at the same stage as your fellow neighbors.

 

Must be the money that bothers you really.  I would prefer having someone that pays rent to make it that I or my neighbor can afford a mortgage and make their place nice and keep thing nice and clean instead of having someone that struggles with a two person working family and the home looks neglected.  Going to create rules that no two person working family is allowed?

 

Share another situation we live in a world today that children seem to return home for many reasons including divorce, separation, hard times, or just don’t move out when they turn 18.  These people also drive cars and make the community busy.  So it is often that home owners keep their bedrooms full with multi family generational living enviroments.  Some people it is just their culture.  My direct neighbor had one of his 6 kids come back with a husband and two children for about 9 months as they built a new house.  The neighbor beside him had a cultural multi family environment with grand parents, parents kids and the kids spouses and the kids kids all in one home.  Why do the HOA’s blame the traffic on renters?  

 

I will share one other thing, one of my neighbors came down with cancer and the activity that went on at his home was a constant flow with relatives visiting, nursing care providers, meal providers and the list goes one.  If you want a quiet place to live why blame it on renters and discriminate them.  Blame it on family dynamics.

 

And who knows maybe someday you will understand why you bought a home that was bigger than what you need and use it totally as we all should feel like we can and be the neighbor that added traffic to the neighborhood.

 

 

View Best Answer in original post

62 Replies 62

Yes they can and have on many occassions.  They can make it so that rentals of ANY kind are not allowed.  You need to be aware of what the laws and covenants are of your HOA affiliation. Case law is not in your favor here and you will likely spend a lot of money on attorney fees if you should choose to go to court with them.  

http://www.movoto.com/blog/real-estate-and-more/top-10-list-of-worst-hoa-bylaws/

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/homeowner-horror-stories-associations-are-heaven-or-hell...

http://www.zillow.com/blog/5-real-life-hoa-horror-stories-132729/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hoa-horror-stories-homeowners-who-fought-and-came-171316727.html

 

The scope of thier power is not unlimited.   There is such a thing as HOA overreach, actually it's quite common.   So of everything I read,  I am not seeing anything specific to a ROOM rental within an owner-occupied home.  Such specific terms are certainly not in our HOA docs.  So I can't just presume they have the right to interfere with what I do in my own house.  What next,  they're going to tell me what I can cook for dinner??

Zandra0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Yes your housing association can tell you whether you can do Airbnb or not and if they decide no you have to abide by it.

 

its the same the world over. 

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Yes they can. now can yours, I have no idea, would depned on the rules.

David

David, there is absolutely no rules in our docs about restrictions on individual rooms rentals. On the entire house, yes, of course.  So should one just pressume that annual property leases terms, should naturally carry over into room rentals in an owner occipued home?  

Usually HoA's  have rules about permitted activities including operating a business on the property. I can only suggest if you have an issue you seek legal advice.

David

Yup, that's one way they'll attempt to take cover under "business activity" rule, but then they better go after every home based business and home office.  Thanks. 

If your HOA documents are silent on room rentals, then look to the Broward county zoning and see what that says. If the zoning for your area doesn't prohibit it, and your HOA docs are silent, then go right ahead and rent! 

 

This is not to say that the HOA won't put up a fuss ( they exist to make us miserable)  but unless they actually amend the governing documents I would agree that you have an excellent argument.

 

 

 Dee,  
My city outright supports vacation rentals, including AirBnb. I got written approval from them already. 

 

The "Lease" section of our docs state; "No portion of a lot or unit (other than an entire Lot and Unit) may be rented."

 

I wonder if that's where this board could get their authority from. Does that mean I can't have roommates?  Sounds too crazy!  Funny thing is, the rest of the terms don't state anything about length of rental, nor how many times a year it may be rented.  Technically, I should be able to vacation rental it too.  These docs were basically written on swiss cheese.

 

Furthermore, this board is always making new rules, but I don't think they are creating and adopting them properly, as that would require 2/3 majority vote of all homeowner to amend the docs - something that never happens.   So basically, they throw out whatever rules suites them at the moment, and nobody challenges their authority.  So, I plan on getting to the bottom of where that authority comes from.   

And to avoid an unnecessary messy legal mess, unfortunately I'll probably have to cease rentals, until I figure this out.  

 

I can tell you are very angry at your HOA at this time.  However, arguing your case here is probably moot, but you certainly can vent.  For myself, I will not likely become an ally defending you from your HOA's rules. Before you post your property on Airbnb, the onus is on you to make sure you are in compliance with State, Local, and Property Laws.  In your case, you must live in a correctly zoned area and have a Vacation Rental License at a minimum.  http://www.hollywoodfl.org/946/Vacation-Rental-License  If your HOA has covenants against properties with a VRL, then you have a problem, because that means you cannot have a properly documented listing. Since your HOA has a rule against any "partial rental", that means, very clearly, that you cannot rent part of your home - so no room rentals including roommates.  You signed this document as a condition of closing on your loan and as a condition of your mortgage (if you have one).  

You can be angered by this, that you didn't know or that they have too much authority, or whatever, but you are legally bound to it at this point.  I'm sorry that you are in this situation as you clearly want it to be different.  

My recommendation is to follow the HOA board's proceedures to get an exception variance for your property. You could also get yourself elected to the board with the next election to try and change the laws.  Without seeing a full copy of your HOA rules and regulations, I cannot tell you where your legal opportunities lie so you will have to hire an attorney to help you.  

Right now not one of your properties for which you have reviews is showing up on the Airbnb site.  I'm unclear if you have been forced to take them down by your HOA or have done so voluntarily.  Hopefully you can get it all resolved quickly in a way that is agreeable to you. 

In case you need this, here are the rules and regs to get your VRL: http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Florida/holywood/cityofhollywoodfloridacodeofordinances?f...

 

That was extremely helpful information.  My HOA legal documents only refer to "a lot", which it defines in the document as the whole parcel with restrictions of only two leases per years and not less than 6 months.  The Management screen and the Board approval of all such leases.   There is no provision or application for leasing less than the Lot/ whole parcel. The City of Miramar exempts needing license if you do no more than 3 rental for less than 30 days in a year.  I stay within thoses guidelines. Airbnb has agreements with Broward County for all tax requirement.  A professional Business license is not required since by city does not require a license and Deptartment of Tax Revenue does not re

Sorry I did not complete my sentence.  .......require doing more than what Airbnb has already arranged for assuring all tax are paid on a county and state level.  I am being challenged and I am trying to educate them on how Airbnb can be a benefit and not a detriment to the community and if they want to change the language in our document let's do it the right way with the majority of homeowers wanting a more restrictive usage of their property. However, I am challenging that they can not make the words chosen in 2001, when written, to be something else in 2019. The terminology used in the documents does not address the legal terms that apply to a vacation, transit and short term rental situation.  To keep calling a banana an apple does not make it an apple.  a "lot" a whole parcel does not address ower occupied sharing of your home.  I have been on the board for more than 6 years. I am requesting additional legal interputation of our documents but it states that " a Lot" may not be leased for less than 6 months and no more than 2 times per year". A lot shall mean the plot of land shown on the recorded subdision map referred.  The lease agreements issued by the Management company does not have an option of a partial home rental. The concept of controlling who is in your home when you are in 100% control of your home  does not exist in our HOA documents.  

 

I have had to fight for my rights - as well as the rights of others,  almost all my life, I guest at almost 70 years of age it will continue.  I am trying to do this by educating our board and the community not by a legal fight. I love hosting and have done such most of my adult life, way before there was an Airbnb.  The primises for which I made a 1/2 million dollar investment is worth fighting for.  I will update periodically.  Feedback is appreciated.

 

 

 

Thank you for your insightful submission and for fighting the good fight! I stand with your sentiment 💯 and fighting the same exact battle with my HOA!

I'm in the same boat. Deciding to fight it even if no one else has (other residents apparently just folded). Please let us know how yours works out and I will do the same.  Our CCR only addreses "Short Leasing of a LOT" as prohibited. Airbnb's and other platforms did not exist when the language was written. But you know what did exist? ROOMMATES who pay you to live in a portion of your home for any term you choose. No mention of that being prohibited so I don't see being an Airbnb HOST a violation of anything and plan to fight it to the end of the road!  They also try using the restriction about using your home “for business or commercial activity” B.S. when our HOA meetings themselves are on zoom and a very large portion of the community in 2021 now has home offices and the like IN THEIR HOMES. This clause is meant to prevent the types of businesses that impact the "look, sound or smell" of a residential community, NOT to tell people how to live/work inside of their homes.  I get that I can't run an auto repair shop or a drive thru restaurant from my home or a freaking Speakeasy!  But apparently they had ZERO issues with a recent long term renter running a dog training business or another neighbor with a professional BAND next door. The HOA said noise complaints must go through the local police department. My Airbnb guests were complaining TO ME about the noise! Anywho... the struggle is real and at end of day boils down to HOA Board members with a clear bias against STRs... specifically Airbnb.