Our property is a historic ranch, and we have two cabins we rent. Last year, the county we live in imposed a new regulation regarding short-term rentals: Each unit has to have its own parking; no parties are allowed; and all structures must be up to current building code. The requirements were initiated as a result of problems in the pretty-large city in the county and a nearby, internationally known resort area.
Well, we’re good on parking and parties, but the ranch is over 100 years old, and there is no way we’ll ever reach the standards of modern building codes. We are 200 miles from the city, farther from the resort (large county!) and very rural, but the county government didn’t care about that.
As a result, we now rent for a month at a time (we can’t be an STR, and we don’t want the state’s landlord/tenant regulations imposed on us. But we don’t feel like we have this dialed in. At all. If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to hear them. One thing, for example, that we aren’t sure what to do about is how/whether to schedule stays. Should we say they have to begin at the start of a month and end at the end? That would offer clarity but might limit the number of bookings we get because it reduces flexibility.
Advice from the experienced? Thank you!
No way to get grandfathered, since you were operating prior to the code/zoning changes? I would check on that, as it seems funny. Are there any other hosts around you, also in historic places that you could tap on, to see how they’re handling the changes?
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Thank you! We tried the grandfathering; the county people were very much not interested in considering ANY kind of exceptions to the new regulation. I’m not sure why, but we kind of figured it’s because it’s a new thing, and they’re bureaucrats who have no reason to be bothered with actually seeing nuance. This is why we WANT to hope that in a year or two, they’ll be willing to look at it again. On the other hand, we’re so remote that our little license fee would never make a difference to them anyway.
There is one other host in the area–nice folks, with whom we communicated a few times; unfortunately, theirs is a fairly newly built place, so code wasn’t a problem. They went ahead and got the inspections and license.
The stricter your check in/out dates are the fewer reservations you end up being able to accommodate. Set your minimum stay & maximum stay. The guest scheduling will work itself out. A few empty days will be welcome because you will have time to do maintenance & a good cleaning.
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This! I do long term stays in two AirBnBs. This is exactly what I’d advise too.
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Our state passed some strict STR rules but left the building code issue up to individual towns. Thankfully the town officials haven’t said a word and I am right across the street from their offices. Requiring modern building codes would be the end of our home share STR in a house built in 1811. That said, regardless of the length of stay we are safety conscious with a hard wired smoke detector system, emergency lights, fire extinguishers, the diagrams on exits on the back of doors (like hotels), We even put those ladders that you can attach to the windowsill to climb out a
window as an exit on the second floor. When I greet guests, the first thing I show them is all the exits. I have similarly equipped LTRs on the same property.
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Thank you! This approach makes the most sense to me, too. I’ll pass the advice along to the ultimate decision-maker.
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This is a comprehensive set of safety precautions–kudos to you. We’re part-way there. We’re a pretty rustic, off-grid stay in a landscape that is silent, remote, and drop-dead gorgeous. Our guests come for all that. The monthlong visitors have actually been mostly great–I think because it takes a bit of commitment to spend a month here. We just want to be sure we’re not deterring folks with the 28-day requirement, and I appreciate all the advice here.
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