The Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance and four short-term rental operators have filed a lawsuit against the City of Dallas alleging a new ban on the properties in single-family neighborhoods violates the Texas Constitution.
New restrictions from the Dallas City Council ban short-term rentals (STRs) from single-family neighborhoods, limit a single unit to just one rental, and require off-street parking for those occupying the units, as reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Similarly, new City codes from the council established a set of further rules, such as noise limits, annual registration, and a requirement that someone be able to respond to City requests within a certain time frame, per the DMN.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, alleges the new ordinances violate the Texas Constitution because they constitute a denial of due course of law, an unlawful taking of private property, and an enactment of a retroactive law.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges the ordinances “arbitrarily discriminate against owners and operators of STRs.”
Many of these STR owners, according to the lawsuit, will lose significant amounts of money due to the new ordinances, which are expected to be enforced beginning in December.
“STR owners have no realistic chance to recoup their investments in the short time left before the City starts to enforce the Ordinances. And relying just on long-term rental income is not economically realistic for the great majority of STR owners, who did not develop their properties with that goal and may not have adequate facilities or location for long-term renters, for example,” reads the filing.
The lawsuit also argues that these ordinances “swat a fly with a sledgehammer. And the City knows that.”
“The City’s own research concluded that less than 5 percent of STRs were even potentially problematic, concluding: ‘[O]ver 88 percent of STRs generated zero 311 or 911 calls,’ and that ‘[t]here were 123 (4.6%) STR Properties that had 2 or more 311 or 911 calls during 2021-22,’” alleges the lawsuit.
Those who support the new ordinances are residents like Olive Talley, who lives near an STR and said that noise from the unit has caused issues in her neighborhood.
“Just imagine people rolling roll-aboard suitcases up and down the sidewalk at all hours of the day and night … people partying outside,” she said to the Texas Observer.
“I have video of one group, and they’re throwing balls off the cabana at each other down below, and each one [gets] a cheer. This goes on until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. … You know, we often wonder if any of the owners of STRs would enjoy having an STR like this … right next door to them. I would venture to say most of them would say ‘no.’”
On the other hand, Lisa Sievers, a board member of the Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance, said issues such as crime and noise can occur in any neighborhood and should not be blamed on the STRs.
“We’ve had people shoot into people’s houses on my street, and we have a park across the way where drug deals go on all the time,” she said, per the Texas Observer.
Sievers said that the Alliance would understand if the City made some changes to ordinances, but the changes passed are too extreme.
“While we support a fair and sensible registration ordinance, we do not support a ban that punishes nearly all STR owners/operators in an effort to root out the few bad apples,” Sievers said, as reported by Candy’s Dirt.
“We are fighting to preserve our right to continue to operate well-managed STRs and provide a necessary and beneficial neighborhood service,” she added.
