Austin STR rules are a burden, says one resident

The number of hosts who actually follow the city’s short term rental (STR) ordinance is unknown and impossible to survey. My guess is: not a lot. The ordinance is so ludicrous that it makes the renting process difficult and unfair.

Some of the ordinance’s ridiculous rules include essentially doing nothing other than sleeping between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and having no more than “ten adults at any one time, unless a stricter limit applies.” Which is immediately followed by the stricter law: no more than “six unrelated adults.” By the night, you must kick out two more people because only four people can stay in an STR with a maximum of “two adults per bedroom” between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. As it sounds, it’s clearly not a reasonable ordinance — rather a draconian one that snatches people’s freedom. And as one would expect, the city has been sued for violating STR owner’s constitutional rights.

As if this wasn’t enough of a deterrence for people to forget about STR as an option, the Austin ordinance has divided STRs into three types and each has a separate set of rules and application process to acquire a mandatory renting license