My first reaction when I saw the county’s latest attempt to regulate short-term rentals? No way this works.
There’s no way this proposed ordinance, which would prohibit single-family homes from being rented for weddings, reunions and other special events, will satisfy frustrated neighbors who’ve been complaining about noise, parking problems and late-night disturbances caused by these unwanted affairs.
There’s no way this ordinance, as it has been proposed, will stop unscrupulous landlords from getting around the legal obstacles and continuing to rent these homes for such parties.
There’s no way this proposed ordinance, which received the blessing of the Planning and Zoning Commission last month and is expected to be approved by the County Commission at its Sept. 22 meeting, can be effectively enforced.
And here’s why: The proposed ordinance does not – and cannot, legally – prevent homeowners from letting family members and friends use their homes for weddings and other special events.
That means an underhanded landlord could sidestep the law by privately arranging to rent the home for a special event, requiring a cash payment and, if questioned by neighbors, telling them the home is being used by an old college buddy.
If you think I’m reaching, consider:
An internet search recently conducted by the county found more than 350 local properties listed as vacation rentals.
Fewer than 50 local homeowners have acquired the state licenses required to legally rent their homes.
Clearly, not everyone is playing by the rules now. Why should anyone expect that to change, merely because the county passes a new ordinance?
“Certainly, the system can be gamed,” said William DeBraal, the assistant county attorney who authored the proposed ordinance. “So what I tried to focus in on was that the homeowner had to be present at the event.
“If the noise gets too loud or the party gets out of control and the police show up, they usually ask for the owner and deal with him,” he added. “If they show up and ask to talk to the owner and he’s not there, then there could be a problem.”
Yes, there could – unless the renter follows the owner’s script and tells police he’s an old friend borrowing the home for a wedding, apologizes for the disturbance and promptly addresses the cause of the complaint.
What do the police do then?
File a report? Notify the county’s Code Enforcement Division? Or just say good night and go back on patrol?
Truth is, there’s not much law enforcement can do in those situations.
That, as much as anything, is why I was so skeptical about this ordinance and the impact it would have on shutting down these special-event rentals – at least initially.
Now, having discussed the ordinance with DeBraal, Community Development Director Stan Boling and local landlord Glenn Powell, I’m not so sure.
I still have my doubts, knowing that some greedy, unprincipled homeowners will find ways to circumvent the law, but my conversations with DeBraal, Boling and Powell convinced me to give the proposed ordinance a chance.
“I’ve owned vacation rentals for the past 12 years and I’ve never had a complaint from a neighbor, which is the case with most vacation renters,” Powell said, making it clear that he believes the special- event rentals have given all short-term rentals a bad name. “But I think the special-event ordinance is a great idea.
“I recommended this ordinance to Stan, actually, because these special-event rentals have nothing to do with vacation rentals,” he continued. “Honestly, I would be irritated, too, if my neighbors did some of the things I’ve heard people complain about from the special-event rentals.
“Nobody wants to have a problem, but there are a handful of landlords who aren’t responsible and aren’t considerate of their neighbors,” he added. “I think this ordinance, along with the proposed parking ordinance, will have a huge, positive impact.”
The parking ordinance, which would limit the number of vehicles permitted to park at short-term rental properties, is designed to work in tandem with the special-event ordinance to eliminate the problems caused by the extra traffic and parked cars on the neighborhood streets.
The special-event ordinance, though, would have a far-greater impact – because it not only would make such rentals illegal, but it also would allow the county to consider any advertisements for those rentals to be prima fascia evidence of a violation in code-enforcement cases against the homeowners.
“You wouldn’t be able to advertise,” Powell said, “and if you can’t advertise, it’s very difficult to get the word out.”
DeBraal said evidence of advertisements for special-event rentals “shifts the burden of proof to the homeowner” for county code-enforcement hearings.
If the homeowner opts to go to court to challenge the Code Enforcement Division’s ruling, however, the burden of proof would shift back to the county, which would need to prove the advertisement produced a rental and that money changed hands.
“We’d still use the advertisements as evidence,” DeBraal said, “and we’d still make the same argument.”
Powell, who was appointed to the county’s Short-Term Rental Committee, chose to make a different argument:
That vacation rentals really aren’t a problem here.
He said the county has received only 10 complaints about short-term renters since 2012 and that five of them were dismissed.
“When you think of all the people in the county licensed to do this and all the other people who do it in the dark, and to have only five legitimate complaints … That’s an incredibly small number,” Powell said. “If this were a big problem, Stan would’ve gotten more than five phone calls.”
Boling agreed that vacation rentals, particularly special-event rentals, aren’t a massive problem – yet.
“There’s a demand for them, but it’s not widespread,” Boling said. “It’s not a big issue in terms of numbers right now. But we want to prevent it from becoming one.”
Maybe this proposed special-event ordinance is the best way to do that. Maybe it’s the only way. I still have my doubts.
I’d like to believe that, once the ordinance is passed, every owner of every vacation rental in the county will do what’s right. I’d like to believe Vero Beach is still that kind of place.
But people are making money renting out these houses for weddings, reunions and other affairs.
And if there’s any way they can continue to cash in, even if it requires telling a fib or two to get around a local ordinance, some of them will do it.
That’s just how it works.
