At the May 23rd special City Council meeting, the Council adopted new regulations to govern and regulate short term rentals in Greensboro. Previously the City did not have provisions within their ordinance that directly spoke to short term rentals. As we are all aware, short term rentals are prevalent and are a growing sector of any local rental economy.
Under the new ordinance, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024, a short term rental is defined as “the rental (for a fee or other valuable consideration) of a portion or all of available bedrooms of a residentially used property for a period of no more than 30 days. The property may include an onsite accessory dwelling unit as part of a short term rental. All Short Term Rentals are classified as either a Homestay or a Whole House rental.” Several changes were made to the short term rental ordinance since we first wrote about the new proposed rules here. A significant addition was the requirement that no short term rental be closer to another short term rental than 750 feet.
Pursuant to the new ordinance:
1) Short Term Rentals are allowed only in residential dwelling units
2) A Short Term Rental must be separated from any other Short Term Rental by a minimum of 750 feet, as measured from property lines (property separation as defined in 30-7-1.2).
3) Short Term Rentals are required to secure a zoning permit and have the permit conspicuously posted on the associated property and on any advertisements or postings related to the short term rental. A new zoning permit is required if the property owner or local operator changes and must be done within 30 days of the change in owner or operator. This permit may be denied or revoked by the Planning Department based on either the conviction of the owner/operator of a criminal offense on the Short Term Rental premises as outlined under North Carolina General Statutes or having two or more verified violations of this or any other City ordinance on the Short Term Rental premises within a 365 day period, in addition to any other enforcement actions outlined in 30-5-4.
4) No more than two (2) adults per bedroom rented are allowed. Children and other persons under age 18 as of the date of the rental do not count towards this cap.
5) Gatherings that are publicly announced or promoted (through any means) and involve more than 2 times the number of persons renting the property are prohibited.
6) Exterior signage is prohibited.
7) Local operators or property owners for whole house rentals must be physically located in Guilford County or counties directly adjacent to Guilford County, place their contact information prominently in the short term rental, and be readily accessible throughout the rental period.
8) Short Term Rentals shall comply with all applicable State and local laws including, but not limited to, minimum housing, building and fire codes and shall pay all appropriate taxes, including occupancy taxes, to the relevant governmental entities. Failure to do so will constitute grounds for revocation of the zoning permit.
9) For multifamily buildings no more than one dwelling unit per building or 25% of the total units per building, whichever is greater, may be used as a short term rental.
10) Parking for Short Term Rentals is limited to 1 car per bedroom rented.
11) A Short Term Rental shall have the same parking rights as the dwelling unit where it is located and shall be subject to any relevant community standards normally applied to the dwelling unit.
12) All Short Term Rentals must be in compliance with these standards by January 1, 2024.
The City has set up a portion of their website to address the history of this issue. It can be found here. It should be noted that nothing stated in the ordinance would prevent a community association from adopting their own rental restrictions addressing short term rentals. However, any rental, regardless of whether in a community association or not, will have to comply with the new ordinance standards if the rental is located in Greensboro. For any questions you may have, you may contact one of our attorneys at Law Firm Carolinas.