Because a lot of these owners are remote and don’t have day to day control of their guests’ behaviors. They oftentimes have farmed out their day to day operations to a service to whom they pay a fee.
If I am understanding you Scooter, it is your contention that even if it is their home - and they LIVE there full time - and are actually present, at the same time along with their guests, in a home they paid for - you feel that these same homeowners either won’t care what their guests do, and/or are incapable of controlling these same guests in regards to violating the property rights of their own neighbors?
That situation is not in compliance with the new rules.
Therein lies the problem. People don’t always follow the rules.
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Repeatedly paying a $500 fine generally helps people follow the rules.
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Not when they don’t get caught.
MIami Beach has fines that are tens of thousands of dollars, even on the first offense, and people still break the rules.
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Exactly! My neighbors had thousands of dollars in fines for a HOA issue and still didn’t pay for months. Not til foreclosure was threatened. The bad behavior continued the entire time. Money doesn’t motivate everyone. Not everyone critically thinks. They think in the moment. They play checkers not chess.
I think I understand things better.
There is a fear that owners will attempt to pass-off their whole house rentals as owner occupied homes renting out rooms.
And there is a fear that the city is incapable of putting a stop to this.
Thank you.
And for the record - I despise HOAs and can’t fathom why anyone would desire to live under one, but to each his own.
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Scooter, when you complained to Airbnb, what was the resolution? The only encounter I have had with their customer support was very amicable toward both parties in the dispute and they kicked extra money to the host. (My bachelor party was a little wild, in an Airbnb, but not in Raleigh because who bachelor parties in Raleigh…?)
I would imagine if a host received multiple complaints through Airbnb, they would punish the host with limited visibility through the platform, fees, or suspension. I’m sure they are aware that unpunished hosts lead to city wide regulations and bans…
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I actually complained directly to my neighbor because I was so frustrated and at that point decided the “neighborship” was irretrievably broken. Especially after I called the police two weeks prior. And knowing the person moved to the beach and didn’t live in the house she was renting anymore made it easier for me to overcome my hate of confrontation. She finally sold the house last August. You’re right, I thought it was so odd to have a bachelor party in Raleigh lol. Full disclosure she was apologetic.
Honestly, I live just East of true downtown, and my neighbors are the worst. Cars honking at 6am for picking people up. 5 cars at a time, with some of them parking in front of our driveway. There is no accounting for people. Some people are great. Some are the worst. The city being overly regulatory is bs. They should definitely keep people from having a huge number of properties, and from pushing people out of neighborhoods. Otherwise, let people maximize their property.
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I see both sides, but part of me also can’t help but notice that when it comes to the noise and disturbances that come with downtown living, people here are usually quick to say “you moved to a downtown of a growing city; it’s part of the package.”
But when air bnbs pop up in areas that are desirable for visitors to stay in – something I consider part and parcel for any city I’d want to visit (I stay almost exclusively in air bnbs when I travel, or when I host people here locally) – people are seeing it differently. I don’t quite follow that logic.
The experience that Air BNBs provide is not replaceable by hotels. When I got married in another city, I hosted my entire extended family in four whole-house air bnbs within a 5-minute walking radius of each other. This was a thriving neighborhood where hotel rooms would have cost $400/night. Conversely, when my wife’s parents are visiting us here, we’re putting them up in an air bnb that’s walkable to our apartment. The nearest hotel is 15 minutes away, and double the price. Having a wide variety of accommodation scattered throughout a city is part of what makes it exciting and appealing to travelers, and I don’t see why this is such a big issue that the city council needed to over-regulate it in this way. I agree with the other comments in this thread that have suggested adopting policies that discourage outside investors from snatching up multiple properties.
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Probably because some of the noise is at least predictable thanks to zoning laws. Generally you know whether or not an area will be noisy based off of proximity to commercial areas. AirBnB is unpredictable. You never know when/if a neighbor might put their place up for short-term rental until it happens.
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Agreed. Not having whole house rental as an option is a loss to the city as a destination. I’m sure Visit Raleigh isn’t happy.
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This current Raleigh city council deciding to impose a blanket ban on an entire type of business because of a “few situations” is probably the most believable thing possible.
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Let’s set aside the bachelor party since that would piss off anyone, regardless of the circumstances. What does it matter if it’s the owner’s car in the driveway every weekend or if it’s different people’s car every weekend? Other than the bachelor party, I’m not seeing the issue.
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Great! (Reaching character limit)
I always feel the need to share my families (personal) perspective on this, since we’ve been hosting for a few years. We have (2) kiddos in daycare and those bills are le-git y’all. I think it’s critical we acknowledge that folks hosting in their home is often a way to creatively make some extra $$ to help with bills and life. We have a space that’s attached to our main house that most people use as a man cave, we just choose to be strategic with the extra space and rent it out. With the cost of downtown real estate increasingly becoming out of reach for many families, this provides a way for us to live in an urban, walkable / bikable / transit oriented locale while helping to pay that premium with this extra income. I see both sides of the coin w/ the neighbor / investor component as well (it is much more profitable to rent via airbnb than to a long term renter, also more upkeep / work) - I just feel like if we were aggressively and strategically working hard on a meta level to create more diverse housing options in all of our community - I could take the perspective the councilors are putting out more seriously. Instead, I hear a lot of jargon about “protecting neighborhoods”, which is dis-heartening, at best. I also feel there are easy solutions to preventing investors from coming in and taking over a whole block, like limiting permits to 1 per individual, etc, etc. I’ve also heard of other communities limiting whole house permits to local residents vs. out of town investors too, so there are solutions that allow for a better management of the system than just an out right ban IMO.
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Well said @RaleighBikeLady. From the outside looking in, it just seems like our City Council thinks we have to invent solutions / guidelines / rules to each item brought to them. Raleigh isn’t different than the other 300 cities that have dealt with this issue (and scooters, etc etc). Why can’t we learn what worked for others (and didn’t) instead of reinventing the wheel?
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