Short-Term Rental Ban Expanded to All Residential New Orleans Neighborhoods

Last week, New Orleans expanded its moratorium on residential short-term rentals, suspending current applications, which number over 600, and renewals of existing permits. 

As Ben Myers reports for the Times-Picayune, in an article republished in Governing, “The expanded ban, which was passed unanimously, could begin as soon as Nov. 3 and remain in effect for as long as a year. It represents the council's latest attempt to deal with a bombshell 5th Circuit Court of Appeal ruling in August that struck down a central provision of the city's 2019 short-term rental law.”

The provision required that residential STR operators live on the property, a rule that some owners said would push out mom and pop landlords. The 5th Circuit Court agreed, ruling that “the residential residency requirement discriminates against out-of-state property owners and was unconstitutional.”

A lawyer for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit leading to the decision, Dawn Wheelahan, said the moratorium doesn’t do enough to comply with the law. “Wheelahan further argued that restricting residential permits while continuing to allow commercial ones is unconstitutional, and indicated she would try to get that distinction eliminated from the city law.”