When your city has outlawed short-term rentals

[Terri151]

My city has outlawed short term rentals and I hear Austin TX has now too. Any hosts have experience with trying to get your city to allow short term rentals again or repeal the statute?  (short term rentals = less than 30 days)

And the fines are steep!

Any issue that neighbors have with a short term rental, you can also have with a 30 day guest. So it doesn't make sense to me to make it illegal.

Airbnb support has been no help. It's not even listed in their jurisdictional law info, after I provided them with a copy of my code violation letter. (was not aware until I received the letter that this was a thing!)

[Daniel1598]

@Terri151 I feel your pain as the DC area has been going through similar legislation. I've resorted to requiring longer term stays for the time being. However, I wouldn't give so much heat to Airbnb support. There are growing pains right now with STR being a major legal topic in several cities. It's unrealistic to expect Airbnb to champion every single dispute. We as hosts share in the responsibility.

[Terri151]

Agree to an extent. but it does help to have those resources available to hosts or those thinking of hosting. And good to know about DC.

[Mark116]

@Terri151 @Daniel1598 

I really feel that airbnbn has dropped the ball here.  They should be spending their resources on combatting the IMO false notion that airbnb is the cause of affordable housing shortages....we've had issues with affordable housing for decades before there was any airbnb.  And while I am sure there is some abuse and reasonable ways that could curtail corporate abuses of the airbnb platform, the majority of hosts are normal, average people who are renting either a unit on their primary property or a vacation home.

With that said, without help from airbnb in terms of data like how much $$ is generated in your city, how many tourists, and some kind of formula for how much money these people are spending in the local neighborhoods, what percentage of the airbns are single listings/listings on the resident property,  I don't know what else you can do other than try and meet directly with your local city or state legislators and try and educate them.

Thankfully, at least for now, my city is very airbnb friendly, they just skim an additional 6% off the top, so are making money that airbnb collects on their behalf, no work at all for the city government.  I'm sure eventually we will be charged a permit tax, etc. but for now, at least we are not made illegal.

[Terri151]

thank you