STR Owner must live within 75 miles of unit? Is this normal??

[Kurt Heggland]

Hi BP!

The town where we have one of our STR is proposing an ordinance that the owner must reside within 75 miles of the rental OR have a contract with a 'resident agent' who must live within 25 miles of the rental!

Has anyone heard of or have experience with a local municipality instituting such an ordinance? How about fighting it?

The other bad idea they are proposing is that all rentals must pay to have a landline phone (for emergencies). Ironically, this town removed their last remaining pay phone a decade ago...

Is this also normal in anyone's experience??

Thanks for any input y'all can offer!

[Joseph Cacciapaglia]

Municipalities are experimenting with all sorts of rules related to STR. So far we have just been doing everything we can to work with the city. Some of the requirements seem silly, but it's a small price to pay to be able to run a hospitality business out of a residential property. I haven't run into the specific issues that you've mentioned, but I can see where they are coming from with both requirements. I wouldn't suggest trying to fight, unless they propose something that really shuts you down. We have a lot more success working with the city, and sometimes they're offering suggestions on creative solutions for dealing with some of their requirements.