I think he posted somewhere (but I don’t see it in this thread) that it’s not a change. It was always part of the covenant; they are just now finally enforcing it. And my guess is that in the current atmosphere it wouldn’t be a good time to press for a change to allow it.
“No HOA” has always been a top criterion for any place we’ve lived – my yard signage alone would get me fined up the wazoo.
However, if I were to be on an HOA or condo association board, no way would I vote to allow STR, and I would make sure the prohibition was clearly in the rules.
Associations collect fees from members and have insurance policies, therefore associations are a source of compensation, therefore if there was a hideous accident or the like on-site, the aggrieved STR renter’s attorney would be looking for parties with deep pockets or insurance. If successful, at a minimum the association’s insurance rates would go up after payout. Too risky!
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my HOA has always banned short term rentals but some people bend the rules however an outsider needs a pass to get into the gates and cannot use any facilities so they often get angry and disruptive.
My HOA doesn’t actually do much. It’s a suburban neighborhood consisting of about 250 detached single-family homes. The association dues are $29/month. They maintain a little bit of landscaping that belongs to the neighborhood but doesn’t belong to any homeowner. Other than that, they just enforce the rules that make sure people don’t do stuff that brings down property values. Things such as not maintaining landscaping, not painting the house some ugly color, not having disabled vehicles, not having junk in your front yard, and apparently… not having short-term rentals. 
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Like use a solar dryer (clothesline) to dry your sheets, too?
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That’s gotta be one of the stupidest rules. What is wrong with people that they think laundry hanging on a line is unsightly? We’re constantly being advised to save energy, yet using a dryer is preferable to hanging laundry out in the fresh air and sunshine.
It’s reminiscent of what one sees in the ghettos, projects or out in the sticks. If your clothes line is in the backyard and out of sight that is fine.
It’s just a cultural thing that developed. With the climate change crisis it will flip again. People will be putting out clotheslines again and people who don’t have them will be suspect. 
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Could you get grandfathered in?
Clotheslines will become like solar panels, it will show your green cred…
I hope to see people replace grass with food gardens, right in the front yards. I imagine most HOA’s would frown on that though.
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HOAs, front lawns, McMansions etc
will become a quaint reminder of a period between 1960 and 20??
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Sorry to hear this. It happened to me several years ago in Denver. Beware that this may be the beginning of even stricter regulations. My HOA started w/ no stays less than 30 days, then moved to no STRs or MTRs (minimum one year lease, submitted to HOA) - I got around this my giving my tenant the right to terminate w/ 30 days notice. They signed a one year lease, but could trigger the out clause upon 30 days notice. The 30 days notice was attached as an Addendum to the contract and signed concurrent w/ the lease.
The HOA then moved to limit the number of units that could be rented to 15% of the total units and no grandfathering of existing rentals. This would require an application and permit to rent. If your unit was unrented for more than 30 days, you forfeited your permit. That’s when I sold both of my units.
I would suggest attending the HOA board meetings in person, if possible. I found that instead of dealing w/ HOA violations on a case-by-case basis, they instituted sweeping regulations that didn’t solve any of their issues, i.e. the transient nature of a STR/MTR tenant vs. the owner who was hosting a drug party every Friday night w/ a dozen or more strangers in and out of the building. A rebuttal from a responsible landlord may help squash further restrictions.
I also found that there were one or two residents who pushed for these regulations and were able to get buy in and changes because there wasn’t anyone advocating on behalf of landlords. By the time a proposed amendment was drafted and ready for a vote, it was really too late to do anything.
Best of luck to you and thanks for all of your contributions to this forum. I feel like I’ve dodged a lot of bullets by taking your advice and those of other active contributors.
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The houses here all have 6-foot-high cinder-block walls around the back yards and the HOA doesn’t care what you have in your back yard as long as it doesn’t stick up more than 2ft above the wall, so it’s fine as long as the poles are less than 8ft tall. However, clotheslines are rare in my neighborhood.
You definitely see more clotheslines in lower-income neighborhoods (most of which don’t have HOAs), and it sucks to think that reason overshadows the energy conscious aspect in the eyes of the HOA.
Me too. I’ve seen grapes, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries in front yards around my neighborhood, but they don’t seem to last long. I don’t know if it’s the HOA complaining or just because it’s just not easy to grow stuff here, especially without things like shade cloth and bird net that the HOA definitely would complain about.
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Wow thank you for this. I could definitely see my HOA doing something like this. They vote on everything once a year at an in person meeting they refuse to let non local (90%) owners dial in. For the record my unit has been a vacation rental for over 30 years but I think they preferred it back in the day when the rentals were empty 8 months of the year.
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Eviction enforcement in Arizona is suspended until August 1, and it could be extended, so it will be at least 3 more months before I even attempt month-to-month rentals again. I want to keep my costs down, so I finally got everything totally shut down today.
- Turned off the water heater
- Switched off the HVAC
- Disassembled and disinfected shelving, etc. inside of the refrigerator (so it can be turned off)
- Unplugged everything in the house that’s not hardwired
- Cancelled internet
- Switched insurance from STR to a standard homeowner’s for a second home.
As long as the house sits empty, the cost of upkeep (taxes, insurance, water, electricity, gas, HOA) stands at about $420/month. That’s as low as I can go, and it’s up from $390 in November 2018 right before I listed on Airbnb. I wouldn’t mind it if friends and family could stay there when they visit, because that’s why I originally bought the house, but I don’t expect any visits for a while.
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