Post by High Priestess on Oct 6, 2016 20:19:41 GMT
Now hang onto your hats for a bit of news that will thrill many short term rental hosts.
The Texas Attorney General has joined forces with the Texas Public Policy Group, a conservative lobbying group, to sue the city of Austin on the grounds that its short term rental ordinancy (which seeks to phase out most STRs by 2022) is too draconian.
patch.com/texas/downtownaustin/texas-attorney-general-joins-short-term-rental-lawsuit-against-city-austin
This just goes to show that at least when it comes to laws and advocacy that benefit short term rental hosts, it's generally the conservatives and libertarians, who are the staunchest advocates of property rights, who are more likely to support hosts than the Democrats and liberals. The latter too often are siding with tenant organizations, housing activists, with the hotel industry, in favor of intrusive and overreaching government regulations, and against middle class citizen-host's economic interests and liberties.
Unfortunately-- for instance -- I cannot see California's attorney general Kamala Harris taking a stand like Texas' Attorney General has just done, in favor of property rights. And New York State's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has got to be one of the most rabidly anti-Airbnb AG's out there.
Meanwhile, the Texas AG has sided with hosts, and the GOvernor of Arizona has prohibited cities in AZ from banning short term rentals.
So will the red states lead the way to the future on this issue? Stay tuned!!
Read the lawsuit here:
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/1.pdf
The Texas Attorney General has joined forces with the Texas Public Policy Group, a conservative lobbying group, to sue the city of Austin on the grounds that its short term rental ordinancy (which seeks to phase out most STRs by 2022) is too draconian.
patch.com/texas/downtownaustin/texas-attorney-general-joins-short-term-rental-lawsuit-against-city-austin
This just goes to show that at least when it comes to laws and advocacy that benefit short term rental hosts, it's generally the conservatives and libertarians, who are the staunchest advocates of property rights, who are more likely to support hosts than the Democrats and liberals. The latter too often are siding with tenant organizations, housing activists, with the hotel industry, in favor of intrusive and overreaching government regulations, and against middle class citizen-host's economic interests and liberties.
Unfortunately-- for instance -- I cannot see California's attorney general Kamala Harris taking a stand like Texas' Attorney General has just done, in favor of property rights. And New York State's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has got to be one of the most rabidly anti-Airbnb AG's out there.
Meanwhile, the Texas AG has sided with hosts, and the GOvernor of Arizona has prohibited cities in AZ from banning short term rentals.
So will the red states lead the way to the future on this issue? Stay tuned!!
AUSTIN, TX -- The Texas Attorney General on Wednesday intervened in a lawsuit against the City of Austin over its short-term rental ordinance, categorizing the law as being outside of the city's authority.
In passing its recent ordinance, the city tried to strike a balance between owners' rights and quality-of-life concerns for residents living in the dwellings' midst beset by an abundance of STRs in their neighborhoods and the invariable parties that come along with them.
STRs are secondary homes owned by property owners rented out by their owners to out-of-town guests, charging high rates during times of limited available hotel space to visitors lured to SXSW and other major events in the city. A high concentration of STRs is located in East Austin, a trendy part of the city popular by out-of-towners.
A growing number of residents -- many of them families with children needing sleep to attend school each morning -- complained to the city of the intrusion posed by the STRs. In response, the city passed an ordinance tightening STRs rules in February, including banning more than 6 unrelated adults per property and prohibiting outdoor gatherings after 10 p.m. By 2022, most STRs will be phased out per the ordinance.
By June, the conservative lobbying group Texas Public Policy Foundation, sued the city on the basis that the ordinance was too draconian. On Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton signed on to the opposition on the same grounds while labeling the law as too stringent.
“This blatant overreach by local government infringes upon the constitutional rights of people who own and stay at short-term rentals," Paxton said in a news advisory. "The city of Austin’s draconian ordinance defies logic and common sense, and must be struck down.”
In his press release on the matter, Paxton invoked the Constitutional ideals of freedom of assembly and safeguards against unlawful search and seizure as a motivation for his joining the lawsuit.
"The ordinance...violates the freedom of assembly by prohibiting more than 10 people at a time from using a property and no more than 6 from congregating in the property’s yard outside," his press statement reads. "Additionally, the rules allow code compliance officers to enter a short-term rental property at any time – violating homeowner protections against unlawful search and seizure."
In passing its recent ordinance, the city tried to strike a balance between owners' rights and quality-of-life concerns for residents living in the dwellings' midst beset by an abundance of STRs in their neighborhoods and the invariable parties that come along with them.
STRs are secondary homes owned by property owners rented out by their owners to out-of-town guests, charging high rates during times of limited available hotel space to visitors lured to SXSW and other major events in the city. A high concentration of STRs is located in East Austin, a trendy part of the city popular by out-of-towners.
A growing number of residents -- many of them families with children needing sleep to attend school each morning -- complained to the city of the intrusion posed by the STRs. In response, the city passed an ordinance tightening STRs rules in February, including banning more than 6 unrelated adults per property and prohibiting outdoor gatherings after 10 p.m. By 2022, most STRs will be phased out per the ordinance.
By June, the conservative lobbying group Texas Public Policy Foundation, sued the city on the basis that the ordinance was too draconian. On Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton signed on to the opposition on the same grounds while labeling the law as too stringent.
“This blatant overreach by local government infringes upon the constitutional rights of people who own and stay at short-term rentals," Paxton said in a news advisory. "The city of Austin’s draconian ordinance defies logic and common sense, and must be struck down.”
In his press release on the matter, Paxton invoked the Constitutional ideals of freedom of assembly and safeguards against unlawful search and seizure as a motivation for his joining the lawsuit.
"The ordinance...violates the freedom of assembly by prohibiting more than 10 people at a time from using a property and no more than 6 from congregating in the property’s yard outside," his press statement reads. "Additionally, the rules allow code compliance officers to enter a short-term rental property at any time – violating homeowner protections against unlawful search and seizure."
Read the lawsuit here:
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/1.pdf