Well, to be totally accurate — who can pay you to stay in your home and for how long.
The official agenda for the workshop on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall has but one item listed: Short-term rentals.
After several previous sessions on the same subject, the two recently elected members of the council will get to hear what staff has come up with in the intervening months since the subject came up in the past year or so.
Mayor Kim Learnard noted during those earlier sessions that she herself owns a Michigan home that she rents out to AirBnB types. Learnard said that she hoped any first-time Peachtree City rules would come down on the side of lesser regulation rather than a heavier city hand on the side gig of some homeowners who bring in a little cash by renting out a bedroom or basement to tourists inside Peachtree City.
One former council member was at first dead-set against allowing any short-term rentals. He relented some by the time he left the council last December.
In earlier sessions, several residents who engaged in some of the short-term rentals urged the council to go easy on what has been a completely unregulated use of private properties until now.
The workshop setting lets the council work through some of the possibilities before voting on the new rules during a regular scheduled meeting.
Right regulation will protect our city and homeowners. Renting a room short term with the owner in residence seems workable. Renting a house with the owner remote invites all kinds of trouble. We have plenty of current examples of extreme negatives in our recent past to shut it down pretty tight!
Short term rentals artificially inflate property values and decrease the supply of available affordable housing, leading to the need for other avenues of affordable housing. It’s one thing when a homeowner rents out a room or the house on VRBO/airbnb, it’s another when REITs buy every house that goes on the market.
HOAs are a separate subject because they can set rules and regs in addition to what is allowed by the city. For the city, short term rentals can be set up in a way that allows “free enterprise” and still keeps the neighborhood from the issues of renters. There should be a registration process, guidelines for use, a clear plan for contacting owners if issues arise, a fee for the application, fines for violations.
Short term rentals can be well managed and bring visitors and revenue to PTC, provide temporary housing for those wanting to move here or undergoing renovations, guest spaces for larger family visits. It is shortsighted to think people won’t engage in short term rentals, the trick is to make the process one that helps the owners, renters and the neighborhood.
I believe PTC must have rules protecting home owners from the possible downsides of living near a short term rental. There are ample short term rental examples of “party houses”, trash, late night activity, noise, street parking, and other things no one wants next door or down the street.
I’ve heard the rental owners’ side, which is basically, “trust us”. Regardless of whether the buffoonery has occurred within PTC’s boundaries before, there must be firm, enforceable rental owner responsibilities to the neighborhood and the community to protect home ownership and property values in PTC.
I think you will be surprised. In Centennial we had a covenants vote to limit rentals and it failed badly as people wanted options just in case. This was years ago, now the fight is over rentals to movie studios.
This is a sticky wicket as far as I am concerned. I like the idea of garage apartments for leasing a minimum of six months. I do not care for short-term rentals, with my definition of short term being less than three months. I’m compromising with the minimum of three to six months. Finally, I do not want our residential neighborhoods falling victim to tourism in any form, shape, or fashion.