Short-Term Rental Regulations Up for Debate in Dallas

Dallas residents are asking the city to introduce stricter regulations on short-term rentals (STRs), reports Bethany Erickson in D Magazine, prompting the city council to ask staff for recommendations. “City staff outlined two options. One would update zoning to divide short-term rentals into owner-occupied single-family homes. The other would be the opposite of that. Owner-occupied STRs (in other words, granny flats, ADUs, and garage apartments) would be allowed in all zoning districts. But those not occupied by the owner would be banned in areas zoned single-family residential.” 

The proposed rules would also require off-street parking and ban the use of properties as event venues. A third proposal would ban short-term rentals altogether in single-family residential neighborhoods.

“Compounding the problem is the fact that nobody really knows how many hosts there are in the city. AirDNA, which analyzes listings and breaks them down by city and state, says there are 4,884 active listings within the city of Dallas.” Meanwhile, “The city says it has around 1,200 registered short-term rental property owners, which prompted most of the council horseshoe to question how effective any ordinance will be if the city can’t even enforce its baseline registration requirement, which is literally the only current regulation.”

The source article outlines regulations imposed by other cities, such as South Padre Island, where rules are aimed at controlling large parties, and Denver, where short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods are restricted to owner-occupied units. Erickson suggests a “good-faith effort at regulation” that enforces rules without completely shutting down the STR industry.