The state Legislature passed a bill to give local cities and towns more power to fine and penalize ‘bad actors’ in short-term rentals, but stops short of banning them or limit the duration of their leases.
Co-sponsored by Republican Senators JD Mesnard of Chandler and Steve Kaiser of Phoenix, and SB 1168 is called a “compromise” and gives cities and towns increased authority to fine landlords whose occupants violate noise and other community ordinances.
These rules are often broken by weekend visitors who rent a large house for the weekend, fill it with noisy revelers who party late into the night, disturbing the peace and quiet of families and residents alike. the year, as well as their normal routines.
Philip Minardi, spokesman for Expedia Group, praised the legislation, calling it “a targeted and sensible package of protections and reforms for Arizona’s vacation rental industry.”
He said the measure puts “Arizona at the forefront of innovative policy solutions for this important industry that supports more than 75,000 jobs statewide” and said it creates “new mechanisms to ensuring neighborhood safety while fostering an environment that will allow vacation rental hosts and their guests to continue their important contributions to a vibrant Arizona tourism economy.
The 2016 legislature stripped municipalities of the power to impose regulations on short-term rentals, but in recent years have given them some leeway to control rowdy party houses.
The community of Las Sendas, northeast of Mesa, recently voted to change its Terms, Conditions and Restrictions, or CC&R, to limit rentals to no less than 31 days.
The measure was passed with the support of 75% of Las Sendas residents after a six-month campaign that HOA’s board of directors publicly supported. Of the total 3,090 votes cast, 2,604 votes were in favor of the amendment and 486 were against.
SB 1168 really has no bearing on the authority to regulate short-term rentals, according to Las Sendas attorney Curtis Ekmark.
“The state has nothing to do with communities,” he said. “They left intact an association’s ability to ban STRs. But it allows the city of Mesa to issue fines to people who violate noise and other ordinances.
The measure also moves fines and penalties from online rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO and places them on the owner or management company renting the home. It also makes various other technical and legal changes to the terms of the STR agreements in Arizona.
In an earlier interview with the Tribune, Shannon Preston, who with her husband Colin owns a home in Las Sendas but lives in Oregon, said an outright ban on STRs is not in line with what they thought they had bought when they bought their Mesa home.
“The CC&Rs are a contract we entered into when we purchased our property with the homeowners association.
“For them to take a one-sided majority vote and take away our property rights doesn’t seem to be fair,” Preston said. “They are using our due to take away our property rights.”
The Prestons argued for an approach that stops at outright banning short-term rentals, such as a higher fee structure, which Senate Bill 1168 addresses, or a “three strikes and you are away” for people who receive several complaints about their tenants. .
“There have to be ways to just change everyone’s rights,” Preston said.
The state’s new law could give people who live near disruptive party houses in Las Sendas a way to complain frequently.
Since the new law empowers the city of Mesa to enforce noise ordinances, disgruntled neighbors will be able to call the police with their complaints. As it stands, annoyed neighbors say they themselves fear they could face legal action for ‘harassing’ the ‘guests’ of short-term owners.
Newer communities of course write short-term rental bans directly into their CC&Rs, but older, more established communities that are often sought out by weekend revelers have remained wide open and largely unregulated.
This issue isn’t likely to go away anytime soon for Las Sendas or any other community that votes to ban short-term rentals.
A quick internet search reveals page after page of suggestions on how to circumvent these regulations, for example. Beyond that, Valley real estate attorney Ben Gottlieb said a March Arizona Supreme Court ruling, Kalway v. Calabria, could have a significant impact on the entire property. status and on a community’s ability to modify its CC&R.
In a nutshell, the case states that in order to change them, a community’s original CC&R must mention the possibility that the rules could, potentially, be changed in the future.
“You have short-term tenants who will come and seek declaratory relief,” Gottleib said. “And say ‘wait a minute, in the Kalway case, this amendment is invalid and I want to protect my investment here and I was not warned this would happen. So I think this is going to have some interesting ramifications. The Kalway case clearly shows that it all depends on what is in the original CC&R.
State Representative John Kavanaugh, R-Scottsdale, who has been embroiled in short-term rental legislation since they became an issue, said it would be difficult to circumvent the ban approved by the HOA.
“HOAs will have no problem enforcing that,” he said. “First, neighbors will know when different people start showing up each weekend.”
Kavanaugh, a pro-business Republican understands both sides of the issue, but clearly falls on the side of people opposed to short-term rentals.
“On the one hand is the right of people to own their property and do whatever they want,” he said. “On the other side, there is the right of people to rely on the zoning laws that were in effect when they bought their land.
“Nobody bought their house thinking there would be horizontal hotels next to them. The fact that people made the biggest investment of their lives and then had that opening next to them. “It’s a shame to them. It’s destroying their lives and the value of their property,” he said.
Until Kalway v. Calabria?
“It’s going to be played out in court.” Kavanaugh said.
But even Ekmark, the attorney for Las Sendas, agrees that the community’s CC&R amendment is far from a slam dunk.
“Any association considering banning short-term rentals should be aware of Kalway,” he said.
The bill awaits Governor Doug Ducey’s signature, when it will become law on September 24.
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