I live in Baltimore County, MD and also had a code enforcement officer visit. I then discovered that I am within my legal rights to rent one room (which is all I was renting). Anything more constitutes a “boardinghouse” and is against Code without the proper permits.
1 Like
I also rent just 1 room and possibly my township stopped pursuing this once they saw I rent just one room. Many jurisdictions allow people to rent one room without having to go through all the legal hassle.
Yeah. Plus, do they want to go through all the hassle of figuring out who is renting short term vs long term room-mates. It’s all a hassle. As long as the person owns the place and isn’t a nuisance, cities benefit by people having money to reinvest into their places and visitors eating out and shopping!
I’m glad you ignored. I think it was kind of a false alarm?
I think it was. If the township was really pursuing this I would have gotten an actual violation notice immediately.
However other hosts in my county, in other jurisdictions, were not so lucky. What I saw on the AirBnB forums, one host about 20 miles from me got an actual cease and desist letter, and had to cancel her upcoming reservations, and temporarily deactivate her listing, and has to face a zoning hearing board in early September.
So glad that’s all in the past. Host on!!!
1 Like
By the way, I got the certificate from my county showing I am authorized to collect taxes. I remit the taxes to the county quarterly. As I am aware, a county has more sovereignty over a township. If the county allows it…what can the township do about it?
township can still ban or impose regulations
This is such bullshit. Why would you need to tell your neighbors a damn thing if it’s on your property and it’s not causing harm? I have so many different cars in my driveway lately, I’m just waiting for someone to have a cow lol. And when they do, if they do, I plan to just ignore it, unless it’s an extremely easy fix, which in California, is unlikely.
If it was a real issue, they would have responded. If what you were doing was really illegal, they wouldn’t have just said, you’re operating a business in a residential area, blah blah. I feel like the officer would’ve been more specific if they were serious.
I never told my neighbors anything. I had no reason to. It was none of their business. In my neighborhood people generally keep to themselves (which I feel is better that way). My neighbors dont know anything about me so how would they know who’s a guest or who’s a family/friend staying with me.
While that is true, that my authorization from the county to collect taxes does not legalize my AirBnB 100% (I got it because that’s what other hosts in my county did). Some new listings appeared in my township. Soon the code enforcement will see that and realize if they try to shut all us down…then they will have quite a fight to put up with! The township may eventually change their ordinances to accommodate STR’s, which may require renting just 1 room and require the host to live on the property. These both apply to me so I would have no objection.
Oh no I didn’t mean that you told your neighbors- I was reacting to the requirements for the variance thingy.
Oh I see…if I were to apply for that variance, the township would notify nearby neighbors and hold a public meeting in the municipality building.
In local laws government can do what they want. When a violation is reported, then the town will take action against that violator. The action depends upon town regulations.
Here, they will fine the owner $1300 and collect all back taxes. A second violation is jail, so one strike and the rental is closed because nobody wants to risk jail time.
It only takes one neighbor report to close one rental down.
Good luck. I have been active and visible in getting our town laws changed. You will have to make those personal decisions too.
My township is no longer pursuing my case (so it seems) because it’s been 2 months since I got the business card taped to my door and I never received any violation notice or anything. If my neighbors really had an issue they would have made further complaints to the township and I would have gotten something more serious. If the township really had an issue, they would have given me a cease&desist notice from the start.
I have the same problem. I rent only one room in my appartment of 4 rooms. The officer said that it was not allowed thought of the website of their website there is an official document which says" renting part of the appartment to a guest is allowed." I am in Germany.
hey kasage00 i’m glad this is behind you now (hopefully it will stay that way).
Possibly the person who reported you either works for, or is good friends with your local government and the township is hiding this person. Still that’s not right, if a code enforcement officer says there were recent complaints then they should give you details.
I’m sure by now, as you said, if they were pursuing this they would have given you a more serious notice. I thought something was fishy from the start, by the code officer leaving a business card on your door, with a message to call. Most jurisdictions would cite hosts on the spot (I know mine would).
That was very cowardly of whoever reported you to hide behind the township.This person probably told the township not to give you information so they can remain anonymous and so you would not get a clue of who reported you. If it is true of who reported you is friends or works for the township, then the township would oblige by hiding them.
If any of my neighbors had an issue with my Airbnb, they would not be afraid to confront me!
One thing that I find alarming is that more and more cities etc are thinking of regulating airbnb. I have a Google news Alert set up for Air B and B and every day there are news stories about cities wanted to regulate Air B&B which I think is ridiculous because this is my house that I am paying for so who are you to tell me who I can have in my home?
1 Like
It’s the government. They tell people what to do all the time. Do you have city regulations about private properties? For example, zoning laws, laws about what people can do with their property?
If I moved next door to you and painted my home lime green and had people from my religious group (let’s say there are about 20 of them) come over every Sunday for a service and there is noise and a bunch of cars in the street every Sunday morning and people talking in the street coming and going to my house, would you have any objections? Keep in mind, if you complain I’m going to claim it’s my 1st amendment right to freedom of religion.