Texas Proposes New Short Term Vacation Rental Regulations
Texas recently proposed 3 bills which will add many of the same regulations currently reserved for hotels to short term rentals. The rules appear very similar to the ones we operate under in the city of Austin, but this would affect all large cities in the state.
Additional requirements which are not currently part of the Austin ordinance are:
1. Annual water testing
2. Room rates posted on the door
3. Affidavit from the owner to the marketing websites certifying compliance with local laws
4. The website operators are required to assist the state with any investigation (aka those operators not registered or not paying their taxes)
5. Regulations requiring cleanliness of the units.
The regulations do not apply to:
-primary residences
-individual room rentals (less than the entire dwelling). Some conflicting verbiage on this.
-half of a duplex if the other side is owner occupied
Links to the proposed bills are below.
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtex...
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtex...
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Search/DocViewer.as...
Personally, I'm thankful that the state is creating a framework for the operation and expansion of the vacation rental model.
For those operators who treat short term rental as a business, this is a great opportunity.
I don't expect that property owners booking the occasional event or those operating under the radar will echo my sentiment.
I'd love to hear from other vacation rental owners in Texas and other areas of the country. Would you welcome this type of regulation in your market?