FALL RIVER — More than a week later being denied the right to rent his Highland mansion on a short-term basisowner Austin Feng failed to remove webpages advertising the Stone Castle at 503 Highland Ave. on Airbnb and Vrbo.
City building inspector Glenn Hathaway said ensuring the home isn’t always rented out as a hotel will be a group effort.
That means relying on “the neighbors, if they’re vigilant — including the building inspector being vigilant,” Hathaway said.
“I hate to tell you this because it makes it harder for me, but we’re going to watch Airbnb to watch the schedule,” Hathaway said. “I’m sure the neighbors will be more than happy to let us know again.”
Shortly after paying $1 million for the nearly century-old mansion in the summer of 2021, Feng started renting the house on the Airbnb and Vrbo short-term rental sites., charging guests up to $1,200 per night to stay there. The home contains seven bedrooms, 7,800 square feet of space, on a 1.5 acre lot; Feng said his guests were “mostly elderly people in their 50s”, often coming to the area for weddings or family reunions in Newport.
However, the house is in a single-family residential area, which makes short-term rentals illegal. Hathaway said neighbors filed complaints he described as strangers coming and going late at night or early in the morning, with limos and chauffeur-driven rental cars. He ordered a halt to all guest stays there, which led Feng to apply for a waiver from the Zoning Appeal Board to operate.
January 19 at a busy ZBA meeting in the presence of several neighbors who spoke out against the zoning discrepancy, this request was denied, effectively ending Feng’s hotel business.
Feng does not occupy the house. He lives in Wellesley with his wife and two children.
“That doesn’t mean Mr. Feng can’t go there on a weekend with his family,” Hathaway said, but cautioned, “We’ll be watching.”
Hathaway said he has the authority to evict people from the premises if necessary, and if Feng is found to be operating again, he can issue a fine of $300 per night.
In previous weeks, the property’s Airbnb listing said guests had to stay a minimum of two nights. In recent days, the property’s Airbnb listing now says guests must stay a minimum of four nights. The property’s available dates are hidden until the beginning of March, but later dates can still be selected.
Feng has yet to respond to a request for comment and clarification.
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“It’s a very unique home,” Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Joe Pereira said. “This is probably the most important house in the town of Fall River, except for anything to do with Lizzie Borden.”
As striking as the house is, Pereira said, the property is simply not zoned for short-term rental use and is changing its use for financial reasons. is not permitted by state law.
Also, he said, Airbnb, where a landlord rents anything from a room to an entire home, like any hotel accommodation, has no legal definition in zoning laws. present in the city.
“Keep in mind Airbnb is a brand. It’s a business. It doesn’t mean bed and breakfast,” Pereira said.
Inns, boarding houses, hotels and motels are all permitted in the city; each has a legal definition and specific requirements. Airbnb doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories — none of which are allowed in a single-family residential area anyway, he said.
Pereira said he doesn’t know if Airbnb will be allowed in any residential area in Fall River. A table of the uses of the city’s zoning shows that the only type of residential zone where hostels, boarding houses or hotels may be permitted is multi-family zone A-2 – the apartment building zone, in place throughout the city. Again, however, since Airbnb is not a legal definition of a type of use, anyone wishing to run such a business in this area should follow the regulations of a hostel, boarding house or of a hotel depending on how it is managed.
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In a previous interview, Feng hinted that if he didn’t get the waiver to operate his short-term rental business at 503 Highland, the cost of maintenance might force him to sell the property.
Variance denial doesn’t have to be the end for Feng, Pereira said.
“Any decision of any licensing authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is subject to appeal,” Pereira said, “so he can appeal it to a court if he chooses.”
Meanwhile, the popularity of Airbnb and Vrbo has led other communities in the state that are more dependent on tourism to pass complex and lengthy regulations defining exactly what an Airbnb operator can or cannot do,” to try to control them better, define them better, make it work for their communities,” Pereira said.
As to whether Fall River needs such a settlement, Pereira was diplomatic. “I think zoning regulations need to be reviewed from time to time on an ongoing basis. Because things change. There was no Airbnb, there was no Vrbo, 10 years ago. It’s something new. If we were a resort community, we probably would have tackled this by now.
“Are we going to deal with it now because of the 503 Highland case?” It is not within my jurisdiction to make that decision.
He cautioned that simply having a rule in place, like in Salem or Nantucketwould not solve all the problems.
“These are tourist towns and they have the same problems with bigger houses, in some cases historic houses, and the municipality feels they don’t have control over them. You have neighbors in your arms,” Pereira said. “Unfortunately, anything controversial is neighbor versus neighbor.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at [email protected]. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
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