{"id":6357,"date":"2019-09-11T13:12:08","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T17:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=6357"},"modified":"2020-07-28T17:28:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T17:28:03","slug":"tech-enabled-tourism-fighting-a-continued-legal-battle-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/tech-enabled-tourism-fighting-a-continued-legal-battle-in-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech-Enabled Tourism fighting a continued legal battle in North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

     Websites like\nAirbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway have quickly become household names, known for their\nshort-term rentals that are easily reserved on their websites and mobile\napplications. These popular sites are an online marketplace that allow hosts to\nearn an income from their properties, whether that might be an empty house,\napartment, room, or shared space. The websites are an intermediary that connect hosts to\ntravelers<\/a> that are looking to stay in the area and have expanded the market\nfor travel accommodations to cities small and large, from New York City to\nBanner Elk, North Carolina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Guests enjoy the\nease of booking on their websites and many individuals prefer to stay at these\nshort-term rentals because they can be less expensive for more space and\nprovide a unique experience by staying in a home rather than a hotel. As these\nsites have grown, short-term rentals have boosted the economy in cities by\nproviding more lodging, promoting tourism, and giving local homeowners\nadditional income. However, local governments<\/a>\nhave become concerned about the negative impact of these short-term rentals on\nthe local communities. A large number of rentals in a city may contribute to\nhousing shortages and lessens the possibilities for individuals to make an area\ntheir permanent home. Current residents are also concerned about introducing\nshort-term rental properties and tourism into residential\nneighborhoods<\/a>. Among these concerns are worries about increased numbers of\ncars on the street, loud neighbors, and safety risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Several cities,\nincluding Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, have passed legislation aimed\nat regulating<\/a>\nshort-term rentals. In attempts to control these companies, cities have taxed\nthem, limited the number of days places can be rented, limited the rentals to\ncertain zoning areas, and have even banned<\/a>\nshort-term rentals in their communities. Despite numerous regulations, local\nauthorities have had difficulties enforcing the laws because of the high volume\nof rentals, hosts, and different websites. Authorities are needing to turn to\ndata searching tech tools<\/a>\nin order to find and monitor illegal rentals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Larger cities\nhave had ongoing legal battles with short-term rental companies and some, such\nas San Francisco, have developed a cooperative<\/a>\npartnership with websites like Airbnb. Other cities have spent years working on\nregulatory legislation and are still struggling to create and enforce laws with\nthe desired effect. New York City<\/a>\ncreated some of the strictest legislation, banning short-term rentals unless\nthe host is present, but thousands of illegal rentals continue to proliferate\nin the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     North Carolina\ncities have also seen an increase in the number of short-term rentals over the\npast few years. Travelers are drawn to the state\u2019s coasts for beautiful\nbeaches, like Wrightsville, mountains for hiking, like Asheville, and cities\nfor work, like Charlotte. In Wilmington, North Carolina, local authorities have\nspent years holding public meetings and debating legislation to regulate the\nshort-term rental economy. When these companies originally began to host in Wilmington,\nthe city\u2019s land development code did not apply to these types of rentals. In\nJanuary, whole-house rentals were approved to be in residential districts, but\nnot without limitations.<\/a>\nThese whole-house rentals may not allow events, must be 400 feet from another\nrental, and must register with the city annually for a cost of $300, along with\nseveral other requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In addition to Wilmington,\nsome North Carolina cities have passed legislation regulating short-term\nrentals, while others have left it to zoning ordinances<\/a>\nalready in place. In Raleigh, North Carolina, authorities have agreed to allow\nshort-term rentals, but not of entire homes. The new legislation requires hosts\nto notify\nneighbors<\/a>, purchase a rental permit, limit guests to two adults, and does\nnot allow for events to be held at rentals. Hosts that are in violation of\nthese regulations risk being fined $500 a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Although Raleigh\nbegan to finalize the new\nlegislation<\/a> in May, \u201cGovernor Cooper signed into law Senate Bill 483<\/a>, a one-page clarification to the Vacation\nRental Act\u201d in July, which may preempt the new legislation. The new senate bill\nprohibits local governments from requiring hosts to obtain a permit to rent\ntheir property, which is one of the requirements of the new rental legislation.\nThe developments of these legislations are quickly changing and the interaction\nof the two will be addressed in the coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The popularity of short-term rentals has continued to grow<\/a> despite the increasing legal battles between the companies and the cities they conduct business in. As more rentals continue to pop-up, more regulations do as well, and the legal issues will continue to abound. The legal community, as well as homeowners and rental hosts, should keep a close watch on cities like Raleigh that not only have legislation pending, but also have conflicts with current state rental and zoning regulations. The results of new rental legislation passed will have a broad impact that will reach not only local authorities but also short-term rental companies, homeowners, rental hosts, and travelers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chloe Altieri <\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 11, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     Websites like Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway have quickly become household names, known for their short-term rentals that are easily reserved on their websites and mobile applications. These popular sites are an online marketplace that allow hosts to earn an income from their properties, whether that might be an empty house, apartment, room, or shared …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7946,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357\/revisions\/7946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}