Where I am, people can rent out only 1 room without the legal hassle. Two or more rooms will constitute as a boarding house, which means,they have to get a permit and other hoops to jump through.
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I understand where you are coming from, but here is the deal. Humans (yes us), and certainly the very person next to you, will usually do either or both of two things when given power (any): they will use it by making laws which usually are designed to protect their existing property (or culture), and definitely to keep things as they are, by keeping others out that are arriving after them.
The real culprit is power, societies have to be very careful how much they give to others, even to those that come from their own ranks, because in time, they will change (aka . institutionalized).
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Communities have zoning laws because they want single family houses with owners or renters together, multi-family units together, Apartments in another place, retail business in another, industry in another. All those properties are owned by someone but they are not free to do whatever they want with them. Airbnb is pretty new and many people havenāt heard of it. And when they do, like kasageās lawyer, their initial reaction is āno we donāt want transientsā in our neighborhood. People are suspicious of outsiders and thatās what airbnb guests are.
Property values are about appearance. Just like my lime green house has no effect on anyone and should not be anyoneās business, itās the perception of some. (BTW, I donāt have a lime green house but there is one down the street. Now itās falling into disrepair because the people died and the house it just sitting there. Iāve heard they canāt sell it because itās underwater with a reverse mortgage. Thatās obviously a bigger nuisance than my airbnb.) People with even higher standards about property values live in gated communities or with HOAās so the community has even more power to tell people what to do with their property.
Anyway, good luck to you.
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Just go to some communities, some countries for that matter, that donāt have zoning lawsāor donāt enforce them.
Houston doesnāt have zoning laws.
Well, sort of. I donāt want to keep others out, but I do want to protect my quality of life. Do you want a child day care center moving in next door to you? :o
But most cities do and there are some regulations and there are HOAs and market forces at work. We have colonias outside the city limits where people can do whatever they want (they look like developing nations favelas/barrios/ghettos) but no one would be able to have a successful airbnb in one.
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In my city there are city ordinances that are lightly enforced. Iām lucky in that I live on a nice enough street that people will stay with me and even say the neighborhood is ānice.ā But there are front yards with no landscaping and junk cars up and down the street. Thereās the lime green house. Thereās the family with 3 screaming urchins, 2 unleashed dogs that crap in other peopleās yards, the screaming macaws that are sometimes out front, the junk cars and motorcyles. Thereās the junky house with the unpermitted carport that goes right up to the property line. There are at least two unoccupied homes on my street. All of this makes me not worry a bit about complaints about either my airbnb or my in home dog boarding business.
Why I mentioned ācultureā, to encompass those neighborhoods that want to have zoning laws that are there to preserve a certain lifestyle and protect themselves from such businesses, which of course makes total sense.
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Yeah HOAās can stop an ABB. I am south of Houston in county and I get away with a lot. Luckily I am near a big attraction also. (Kemah Boardwalk)
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When I spoke with my lawyer about the nuisances in my neighborhood, such as neighbors having parties and cars are parked up and down the street, screaming kids, barking dogs, parents yelling and swearing at the kids outside (loud enough so I can hear it), and thereās a criminal across the street who is now locked up in the county jail. My Airbnb guests are quiet, well-behaved, and mind their own business. Their cars do not clog the streets.The lawyerās response was āthose are normal things that go on in neighborhoods, Airbnb is not a normal thingā.
Ugh. Thatās the first lawyerā¦the one you decided right away not to use, right? I guess he sees it as his job to defend the status quo. Good luck adapting in the 21st century dude.
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Yes, that was the first one who I decided not to use. I did not hire any lawyer. I called another one after that but I got nowhere with that oneā¦ They all seem useless when it comes to STRās. I would never give one my money if they want to defend the township and it keep it āthe old-fashioned wayā? That would have been money down the toilet.
That is right they are not adapting to the 21st century; they do not realize the growth of the sharing economy.
criminals in the neighborhood and parents swearing/yelling at their kids in public is a ānormal thingā? and it less of a nuisance than well-behaved Airbnb guests who mind their own businesses? I donāt think so.
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Comparing child-care centers in homes to Airbnbās is apples to oranges. If my house next door ran a child-care center, there would be noise, the house would be above occupancy, and increased traffic in the neighborhood. If a homeowner on Airbnb rent just one room (and has 1 or 2 guests, which most listings can accommodate) and has sufficient parking, and has well-behaved guests, then that is not comparable to the child care center next door.
However, if it is the other way aroundā¦ there is a child care center and then you open a AirBNB. Are you, as the AirBNB operator, responsible for determining whether or not your guests are allowed to be that close to children? [This is totally hypothetical, but people near schools might be forbidden from opening their home to strangers without background checks in the future.]
Iām in walking distance to the elementary school and the township never brought up that issue. There has been some child predators in my area, but they were residents, not Airbnb guests. Neighbors on both sides of my have young children and they never expressed concerns about my airbnb guests (if they even noticed my AirBnB guests)
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I can see your point, except you are comparing worst case scenario child care center with best case scenario Airbnb. Not all Airbnb sites are good because of some of the negatives you mentioned about a licensed child care center: noise, parking problems, strangers. Iām sure your set up is just fine because you live on site and are a conscientious person, but the ones that arenāt give us a bad name and give neighbors cause to call the authorities.
In any case, my original comment was about zoning, which I think is a good thing because I do not want to live next door to a day care center or a taco stand or a nail parlor 
Local lawyers are oftentimes part of the very community a client wants them to fight with, tricky position.
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Yes I see zoning for the purposes of preventing those that open home-based businesses that cause high amount of noise/traffic such as beauty parlors, roadside diners, etc. and would be an eyesore for the neighborhood.
We are seeing a lot of gray-area home business stuff these days as the economy changes. For instance, for my main income I work as a freelance graphic artist out of my house. I sit at a computer all day and send emails, make phone calls and do work. No one comes and goes, none of my neighbors has the slightest idea that I am running a business and no one cares. This is starting to become very common, as companies hire more part-time or freelance workers instead of full-time workers.
For my second job I am a musician. I practice at home for concerts that I play elsewhere, so again, no one sees any activity. I hope to god that no one hears it either!
Many of my musician friends teach lessons out of their house. Maybe their neighbors are not nuts about all the cars and people that come and go, but Iāve never heard of an HOA kicking out a piano teacher, right?
Itās all about the types of activities that the neighbors see and feel are good vs. bad. Strange people who are taking piano lessons - good! People with suitcases - bad!
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