Short-term rental owners push for policy change

For Robin Dumas, one of the hardest parts of moving from Texas to Sarasota as a single mother of two was getting accustomed to the cost of living in her new hometown.

Dumas moved into a charming, three-bedroom 1920s home east of Tamiami Trail in Arlington Park in 2015. It was nice, she said, but came with the kinds of problems you might associate with a house built nearly a century ago. And for the same price, she probably could have lived in a mansion in Texas.

In addition to her living expenses, Dumas was also taking on the costs of starting a new hairstyling business. Searching for a way to make bill-paying less painful, Dumas found salvation in a small accessory dwelling on her property. She invested a few thousand dollars into the apartment above her garage and started listing it on Airbnb, an online vacation rental site.

It didn’t take long to get a return on that investment.

“It basically paid my rent,” Dumas said. “I could focus on my business. It was overwhelming, but because of Airbnb, it totally allowed me the opportunity to take a little breath.”

Two years later, Dumas ended up moving to a new home — but she kept the old property and started listing the main house on Airbnb, too. Her new house had a garage apartment of its own, which also was rented out to short-term visitors. It became a steady stream of income for Dumas, who hosted more than 340 stays during two years.

Things came to an end, though, when she learned most of those rentals violated the city’s regulations.

Dumas found out when she received a notice from the city’s code compliance division. According to the city code, property owners in residential areas are not allowed to offer rentals for less than eight days. If a person is found to be in violation of the short-term rental ban, the city asks them to come into compliance or face a fine of $50 per day.

Dumas stopped listing her properties on Airbnb. She said there’s not nearly as much demand for rentals longer than a week. She understood why the city might feel the need to regulate short-term rentals, but she was disappointed the code limited an opportunity for homeowners to make money from their property.

“I didn’t have a problem,” Dumas said. “It was nothing but a blessing for me.”

She’s not the only one who’s disappointed. On July 16, resident Herb Lustig appeared before the City Commission asking for a six-month moratorium on proactive enforcement of the city’s short-term rental regulations. Of the 43 code compliance notices sent in the previous 34 months, three of them were triggered by a staff-initiated search of rental listings. Lustig shared an Airbnb page that showed nearly 200 rentals available for a five-day stretch in August, short of the city’s minimum length.

He argued the limited proactive enforcement was too arbitrary. Lustig, who rents properties himself, also argued short-term rentals provide a benefit for the city. They generate tourist tax revenue and get visitors to spend money in the community. The owners are typically residents who strive to keep their properties in good condition, he said.

As a result, he thought the city should consider a review of its short-term rental ordinance.

“We’re not the enemy, short-term property rental owners,” Lustig said.

Policy debate

The short-term renters lobbying for a re-examination of the city’s regulations have the ear of at least one official.

Commissioner Hagen Brody said he is developing a proposal that could allow some short-term rentals in residential areas. Brody said he’s still researching the dynamics of revising the existing policy. As of now, though, he thinks there’s a way to permit short-term rentals without risking the commercialization of neighborhoods — something he recognizes is a legitimate concern for residents.

“There’s a middle ground between banning short-term rentals and complete deregulation,” Brody said.

Brody is focused on the possibility of permitting a specific type of short-term rentals. He thinks it’s reasonable to allow “host-occupied rentals” — basically, the rental of a portion of the property where a homeowner or long-term tenant resides. He thinks that could let residents add an income stream and avoid a scenario in which homes become full-time rental properties.

He thinks a broad range of residents could benefit from a more relaxed policy. Brody imagined scenarios in which a young professional was looking for supplementary income or empty-nesters made use of an extra room in their house.

He said it could offer a more affordable alternative for visitors, compared to traditional hotels.

And, he said, revised regulations could better address the changing nature of the tourism industry. As Lustig pointed out, hundreds of properties in the city are on the market for those interested in staying less than a week.

“It’s already happening,” Brody said. “We can bring people out of the shadows and get them onto the tax roll so everyone can benefit from their use.”

Although Brody is optimistic about the prospect of what he considers a moderate change, a city staff member cast doubt on the notion that residents want to see changes to the short-term rental policy.

Lawrence Burleson, the city’s code compliance coordinator, said the feedback his department has received doesn’t show any indication residents are dissatisfied with the short-term rental ban.

If anything, Burleson said, most people he’s heard from would like to see more-stringent regulations. Residents have raised concerns about potential issues associated with traffic and noise. They’ve questioned whether, if short-term rentals proved to be lucrative, it might price full-time residents out of their neighborhood.

And, although short-term renters said there are systems in place designed to ensure both hosts and guests are well-behaved, residents expressed concern that an increase in vacation rentals could change the dynamics of their community.

“They’re saying, ‘We’re in a single-family neighborhood, and we want to keep it that way,’” Burleson said. “‘I don’t want to see new people every week on this street.’”

Additional considerations

Burleson raised a potentially significant point of concern about the prospect of changing the city’s short-term rental ordinance. In 2011, the state Legislature pre-empted cities’ ability to regulate short-term rentals. The legislation allowed cities to keep rules that were in place before 2011, but any new revisions would void the regulations completely.

As a result, Burleson said, the city would risk losing any oversight of short-term rentals if it sought to adjust the existing policy.

Brody disputed that interpretation of the state law. He pointed to the city of Orlando, which revised its ordinance to allow host-occupied rentals  shorter than 30 days in February. He expressed confidence the city could change its rules without wiping out the regulations entirely.

Even if the city can safely revise its ordinance, though, officials expressed a desire to approach any changes with caution.

Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley said short-term rentals are an important piece of the tourism market, offering another option for those visiting the region. But if cities were to explore the possibility of expanding opportunities for short-term rentals in residential areas, Haley recommended developing new rules in concert with neighborhood stakeholders.

Haley said there’s a property on her street that she’s seen listed on sites such as Airbnb. She hasn’t encountered any issues with anyone staying there, but if problems arose, residents — Haley included — would make sure the city knew about it.

The challenge, she said, was writing regulations that permitted well-behaved short-term rentals but didn’t prohibit the city’s ability to go after bad actors.

“What you do not want is a situation where you build up a huge resentment toward the tourist industry,” Haley said.

As Brody continues to research the options for changing the short-term rental ordinance, he also wants to proceed carefully. He’s hopeful residents will be comfortable considering what he eventually proposes, but he knows it’s a potentially contentious topic.

And, although Dumas believes the city would benefit from allowing more short term-rentals in residential areas, she recognizes her neighbors likely believe their concerns about that proposition are just as valid as her support.

“It’s a really hard answer,” Dumas said. “I don’t know what the right one is.”