Vacation Rentals

Vacation rentals are a business. Also, you can check to see if the owner is paying the appropriate taxes for hotel-type rentals. Most local governments have their fingers in that for taxes, inspections and permits. You might let the local taxing authority know. The board should have or adopt a policy that allows reasonable leasing in these tough times. Use the document language "In keeping with the residential aesthetics of the community and condidering that commercial enterprises are prohibited, leases must be for a period of at least one (1) year.......The association shall have the right to notify a tenant if the owner is in default on their assessments and may require the tenant to pay those directly to the association and deduct them from lease payment at no penalty to the tenant. These statements shall be required to be placed in any lease of a home in this community. Tenants are to be given a copy of the association documents and the owner shall obtain their signed agreement that they have received the documents and shall abide by them while living in ____association. The association shall have the right to assess a fine in the amount of $____ for each and every violation, for every 30-day period that the owner is in violation, against the owner for failure to abide by any or all of these conditions".

Have your attorney make sure you can do this, clean it up and then put it in place. You have no authority over someone else's web site, but if you have the appropriate policy in place prohibiting short-term rentals, you can try putting the site on notice and see what happens.

Talk to the police about the kids. Let them know that you're working on prohibiting the short-term rentals and would appreciate their assistance in keeping the serenity of your community.

Joe

Owner does not appear to be willing to stop with the attorney's letter. Could you tell me the county or town in which the case you mention is located. It would help to have our attorney research this case, especially since it happened in Texas. Thanks

I don't know if this will help, but I did a quick look and found one story about the condo that I was thinking of:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/42378512.html
This particular story is about some other issues at the condo, but it does mention the 'illegal hotel' operation that was going on. If you search for the condo mentioned in the story on the lvrj.com website you will find other stories about the situation.

Adoption of a rental policy is your real only tool that will stand up in court. My Florida association has a 2 times per year with a 6 month as the minimum time for a lease. Some seasonal places allow a 3 month minimum so whatever works best for you. But short term rentals always fall under a busines or lodging code for municipalities and are taxed as such. That means weekly or monthly rentals and that should cover your situation and this owner.

James,

Here's is my interpretation of the deed restriction:

1) "residential purposes" means a property can only be used (including be rented) as a residence (meaning people living in it). It does not mean a residence cannot be rented, it just means a lot(home) cannot be used to conduct a business, meaning the property owner would have to rent the home to someone who will be living in it, not using it for a business office.

2) "business purposes" means a residence cannot be owned or rented to house a business enterprise, i.e., a doctor's office, etc. Many assn's have business properties that are a part of the assn and perhaps this could also have applied to the declarant/developers rental office at the time the s/d was being built.

I don't know what the mindset of your board members is but I hope they take into consideration the fact that there may come a time when a property owner has no choice but to rent his property. There are a number of circumstances that would cause this. Therefore, I don't think it's a good idea to want to ban rentals outright. As I and others have mentioned, a rental policy is the best way to tackle this problem. IMO, it's up to the city/county to determine whether or not renting one's home is considered a business. There may be some homes that have been purchased by investors for business purposes but there will also be other homes being rented out of necessity. I think it would be rather hard for the board to determine which rentals would fall into the "business" category.

The case I was refering to was in Sachse Texas. Most likely it was Colin County. While I don't know the official HOA name, the neighborhood is known as Woodbridge.

As for your percentages, I believe that you could amend with 67% vote. Unfortunately, our laws are very goofy and it is awkward at best to figure out if some of the chapters apply to you. But check the laws at:
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/pr.toc.htm