One of the complaints about short-term rentals (STRs) is that some of them turn into “party houses”–a weekend destination for raucous and irresponsible visitors to a city. In response, many homeowners and city officials want to heavily regulate STRs, and in some cases, simply ban them. But this isn’t the moral approach.
Certainly, “party houses” are a nuisance. They disrupt a neighborhood with loud noise, trash, and traffic. But virtually every city and town in America has nuisance laws. The moral approach is to enforce those laws.
Instead, the opponents of STRs complain about zoning violations and demand more land-use regulations. They argue that zoning compliance officers are seldom available when the nuisance occurs. For example, one resident of Fort Worth wrote:
Code Compliance personnel are not easily found on weekends. So guess what? Neighbors are out of luck. By the time offensive conduct and disturbances end, the guests have left without Code Compliance officers ever having observed anything.
The fundamental problem isn’t a violation of zoning codes. The fundamental problem is the loud noise and excessive traffic that are creating a nuisance.
Loud noise and excessive traffic are a nuisance whether the perpetrator is a short-term tenant, a long-term tenant, or the owner of the house. If the owner of the house was blasting AC/DC at 2 AM, neighbors wouldn’t call zoning officials. They would call the police. They should do the same if the property is used as an STR. The police are available. And that is the moral approach.