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It's perfectly legal unless your town/city outlaws them. I'm literally surrounded by them now, and this isn't even "a tourist destination."
One of my homes (AZ) is in what some might consider a "tourist destination." It's not that there are major attractions in the city, but a bunch of them nearby, so we're typically used as a base of operations for people coming to the area to see the area attractions. In the case of AZ, the state has legislated all of the laws and zoning requirements, it's not up to the city or local governments. However, the local governments have to administrate the law, too.
This is just starting as of late last year. As a result, the mice are scurrying like it's a sinking ship, because many of these "operators" were running their STR under the radar, or a portion of it.
As a result of the state laws, there are the usual noise/nuisance/occupancy requirements, but there are also requirements for there being a contact available 24/7, which is also provided to all adjacent properties as well as the city. The owner is required to notify all adjacent property owners and the local municipality of this information on an annual basis. The fines are quite significant for non-compliance and ramp up rapidly.
My property is in a country club community that has been in existence since the 1960s, with an HOA coming into the picture in the 1980s. There is a timeshare condo community nearby that has rights to our club, too, so there are a lot of STRs. Our covenants are so dated that they don't address short-term rentals, despite the efforts to do so for nearly 10 years, only succeeding (marginally) in having the new covenant challenged and struck down in court. That's how aggressive some of the investors are about keeping their properties here.
I will also say that in my neighborhood, which is one of the oldest, homes average around $700K and up. Some of the newer sections have homes that go into the low millions. A number of these million-dollar homes are STRs, often used for "executive retreats" and the like. My point is that price doesn't necessarily define an STR.
As others have said, you need to do some research into what, if any, covenants or local ordinances/zoning address STRs and how. Only then can you take action if there is some sort of compliance or violation issue.
I've been in the thick of this with a property in FL I owned that was in an HOA community built in the late 1990s. There were no covenants that addressed rental properties, so when the economy tanked and the institutional investors came in and vacuumed up all the homes that came on the market with cash for several years, probably 30% of that community became rental properties. Later developments with updated covenants were able to keep these investors out by requiring the owner to live in the home for a year after the purchase. That pretty much kills things for investors looking for rental properties, STRs or long-term.
This might not work for large suburbs or cities -- I have no idea about about the politics there.
But in my small tourist-oriented county, being very vocal in town meetings, hearings, and writing to the local paper has helped tremendously in restricting the terms of the STRs (for example, requiring a minimum number of nights per stay and limiting the number of rentals per month for each STR) has helped tremendously. There has also been an effort to make restrictions about who can own STR's, meaning that currently, in some towns (and matters concerning STRs here are this town-by-town decisions), owners must live within 90 minutes of an STR so that owners would be available to handle any issues that might come up with a particular stay.
The main advice is to stay informed and SPEAK UP.
NOTE: I haven't been following this closely as STRs -- although there are five on my road -- have not been an issue for me because the owners are all very responsible owners, and we are all on good terms with each other, and those who rent the STRs on road are usually repeat and quiet vacationers. So that being said, some of what I wrote in the above paragraph might not be 100% true, but I think it is accurate overall.
Mine are "quiet and responsibly run," too, but they're not neighbors, which I used to have and miss. It frays the fabric of a neighborhood when customers come and go and real people don't live there. They've also been the target of petty crime when empty, which makes the area more dangerous than it was previously.
Mine are "quiet and responsibly run," too, but they're not neighbors, which I used to have and miss. It frays the fabric of a neighborhood when customers come and go and real people don't live there. They've also been the target of petty crime when empty, which makes the area more dangerous than it was previously.
Agreed. My community has 1,761 homes of which are 64 registered STR. Who knows how many more aren't listed? Part of our historic district is now >50% STR. Out-of-state 'investors' are buying up homes and having bidding wars -- ultimately pricing out locals who can no longer afford to buy or rent a house.
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