A majority of the Dallas City Council appears determined to initiate what would amount to a ban on single-family short-term rentals in the city.
Under a proposed ordinance, homes in single-family neighborhoods would no longer be permitted to be used as rentals through Vrbo or Airbnb, to name the two biggest platforms that connect people with places to stay. Short-term rentals would instead be limited to small districts of the city.
As things stand, the council is expected to take up the matter in April, just before the upcoming city election. Short-term rentals are a potent electoral issue, and it wouldn’t surprise us if many of the homeowners who show up to vote are motivated by opposition to them.
If the council continues on this path, it will be a loss for the city. But given the amount of time that city staff and the council have let pass since it became clear short-term rentals need better regulation, no one should be surprised that we might well end up with an ordinance that effectively wipes them out.
This is a case of a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch. The vast majority of short-term rental owners run good properties and don’t put up with the sort of party houses that have led neighbors to be up in arms about the entire industry. But time rolled on without adequate regulation to give homeowners suffering from adjacent party houses fair recourse. When too many bad stories pile up, people are going to demand protection.
A ban on any short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods might be the only thing that will satisfy them now. But there are good reasons for the council to find a middle ground.
First, Dallas needs some share of decent short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods to serve a population of travelers for whom traditional hotels are inadequate, from families to people with medical conditions coming to Dallas for treatment. Second, despite what opponents say, there are property rights issues at stake.
A state appeals court has already ruled, in 2019, that “banning non-homestead short-term rentals significantly affects owners’ substantial interest in well-recognized property rights.” The court was considering an Austin ordinance aimed at sharply restricting short-term rentals.
The Texas Supreme Court has also ruled in favor of the rights of property owners to use homes as short-term rentals. In 2018, it upheld the right of a man to rent his house despite objections from his homeowners’ association.
It’s far from clear whether Dallas’ proposed ordinance, which uses zoning restrictions to accomplish a similar ban, would hold up under scrutiny.
There is no question that the city needs thoughtful regulation that requires short-term rentals to register, to have local management, to pay hotel occupancy tax and to pay fees that fund city responses for nuisance violations and other costs. And City Hall must do a better job of responding to residents’ complaints.
But a ban would put our city at a serious disadvantage in a competitive travel market. And it would strip people’s rights over their own properties.
The council has been way too slow to address this problem. But getting to the wrong solution fast is never a good idea.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
