The new regulations cement the process for homeowners to be able to make money by renting out their properties while the town attempts to deter commercial interests from hollowing out the year-round housing stock.
The West Tisbury select board passed new short-term rental regulations at its meeting Thursday, adding to the bylaw that was passed at town meeting in April.
The new regulations cement the process for homeowners to be able to make money by renting out their properties while the town attempts to deter commercial interests from hollowing out the year-round housing stock.
The bylaw approved by the voters at town meeting required all short-term rentals be registered with the town, and required a two-night minimum booking period. Owners must also reside in the short-term rental for at least 30 days a year, and they can only rent one property out as a short-term rental.
The regulations approved by the select board in a 2-0 vote Thursday formalized the registration process, inspection requirements, penalties and other aspects of the new rules that weren’t yet clearly stated in the bylaw at town meeting.
“We tried to put the registration form as simple as possible and stick everything in in the rules so that then the applicant says, yes, I’ve read the rules and I agree,” short-term rental committee chair Bea Phear said at a select board meeting last month.
Select board chair Jessica Miller and vice chair Cynthia Mitchell voted in favor of the new regulations; member Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter abstained from voting, citing his own three short-term rental properties.
The registration for a short-term rental must be renewed every two years with an administrative fee of $400.
The new rules were designed to “provide a process through which the Town can continue the historic tradition of a vibrant vacation rental market, such that they may be permitted and registered with the Town for lawful use as short term rentals,” according to the regulation text.
West Tisbury was the first Island town to create a bylaw addressing short-term rentals. Other towns have also started to scrutinize the properties. At a special town meeting last month, Tisbury voted to enact short-term rental regulations, also allowing property owners to have no more than one short-term rental property.
Comments
this is regulating peoples
Michael edgartownthis is regulating peoples lives....this has to be illegal....
It is regulating people's
Jon TisburyIt is regulating people's lives no more so than many other zoning, health, and building code by laws, which serve a good purpose and have always been in place.
how will this be enforced
just a thought mvhow will this be enforced
This is outrageous! If we
Peter WTThis is outrageous! If we keep charging more and more with fees and taxes to the folks who rent, they will not come, then what?
We need tourists and all rentals to survive as a community. With out STR etc.. we will not have jobs to support ourselves….
Also, people have factored in
Sara Piazza EdgartownAlso, people have factored in the option to rent their homes for part of the year as income that enables them to keep their homes.
The premise that "STR"s and
Jon TisburyThe premise that "STR"s and continuous over development are necessary for a healthy economy and jobs is false. There is already a shortage of local island based services and labor, and this will not change with STR rental limitation. Many island businesses already have to rely on an off island based commuter work force. This will only get worse if more of the housing stock is scooped up by investor landlords. There also nation wide trend of super wealthy equity funds buying up regular housing as an investment. If one thinks that will not happen here, if it has not already, one would be naive.
There is not a shortage of
Tom EdgartownThere is not a shortage of workers.
Ask the trades… we will have a real slow down if we keep pushing back on tourists and renters. They are the backbone of our island. O have lived here 68 years I guess I have a little insight and common sense.
If you really think we can restrict rentals etc… we will not have good jobs it’s that simple.
This goes with all jobs.
Oh, Tom. The backbone of the
Billy Jean Oak BluffsOh, Tom. The backbone of the island are us year rounders, not day trippers and people who buy a week or two on our island. I see nothing wrong with a few t-shirt shops and trinket shoppes closing their doors if we lose a few thousand tourists. None of my 3 grown kids, all with either college degrees or in the trades and all making good money, can afford to live on the island they grew up on.
Responding to Tom from
Jon TisburyResponding to Tom from Edgartown: I am in the trades, on the island, with a business I started 38 years ago. There is a shortage of on island workers, if you don't believe me, go down to the SSA dock any weekday morning and see all the workers walking off.
No, we don't need more
Pete OBNo, we don't need more tourists. We need year rounders like first responders, teachers, and nurses to be able to live here.
I’m not in West Tisbury but
Joseph Sieber EdgartownI’m not in West Tisbury but it seems excessive to charge a registration fee on top of the STR tax that makes the towns so much money.
It wasn’t very long ago when
Carl vR WTIt wasn’t very long ago when nanny state garbage like this wouldn’t stand a chance. Used to be most WT folks would rail against more bureaucracy - back when independence and minding your own business was in vogue.
Late to this conversation. We
Sara Crafts Oak BluffsLate to this conversation. We have several properties surrounding us on Vineyard Ave in Oak Bluffs that are quite obviously rented out short-term. I have a cottage that I rent out year-round. This is the population of the Island now. We either accommodate it, or reject it. I know that my year-round cottage allows me to continue to live here; I suspect others might give the same rationale. I think allowing a person to have only one short term rental property goes over the line. I do hope that determination is not made in Oak Bluffs. A man who was a selectman here has several short-term rentals just up the road from me; I don't know of any complaints from his property. I think he keeps a pretty tight lid on them. I've heard negative comments about these from others, but I think the behavior of the tenants has been fine; I think jealousy plays a big part. If a property is able to support an adjunct cottage or more, then I think the towns really have little to say about the use of them.
why the $4oo rental fee....
mike kelfer chilmarkwhy the $4oo rental fee.... money-grab ?
Short Term rentals require
Ted WTShort Term rentals require multiple inspections. The costs are calculated to cover the cost of the inspections, not to generate incremental revenue for the towns.
Airbnb erodes community
Dan ObAirbnb erodes community
It’s not just airbnbs, homes
Concerned ChilmarkIt’s not just airbnbs, homes are being bought to build spec houses, using cheap labor to flip, then the more modest homes are bought for employee housing. With no regard for price because they make money renting as well. Then this process is repeated. How much of the housing stock is being depleted because of this?
young families can’t outbid a person flush with cash that has 15 tenants in place all willing to rent out a room. So if you’re going to regulate short term renters and check their occupancy. I ask you do the same for these other situations.
Let a free market correct
Wrong answerLet a free market correct itself. More rentals have been coming online for winter/year round as a result of the glut of short term rentals, the pendulum swings both ways. Any level of restriction is only going to push the working class off and turn us into a rich only location leaving us with crazy high food and high everything costs, with little work in the off season. Not to mention town meeting votes shouldn’t be enough it should take clear ballot based initiatives. With each regulation my heart breaks for our youth.
We are we cutting off the
Jennifer WTWe are we cutting off the hand that feeds us???
We are constantly taxing and restricting Rentals??? We need the rentals to be a vibrant island!!!
And to add these fees and
tom BostonAnd to add these fees and taxes to already super high summer rentals (not to mention the cost of vacationing once you're here) and I can assure you bookings will drop again this summer like they did last summer. And somehow some think these restrictions (some I like) will help solve the affordable housing crisis. It won't make the slightest difference.
We do need rentals- year
Amy EdgartownWe do need rentals- year round rentals or full summer season rentals as it always used to be. People will still come and spend money as they always have. It is the STR properties; the residential properties that have turned into commercial properties that are destroying this island. How long can local families keep up?
Just wondering if the Town
Michael Kelly Turners Falls, MAJust wondering if the Town has determined how much lost revenue this regulation will cause from a reduction in rental fees. Those lost fees will need to be supplemented through increased real estate taxes to be paid by our residents that are already struggling rather than by the tourist industry.
I’m firmly in the camp that
John Aldeborgh KatamaI’m firmly in the camp that says this is an outrageous overreach as the government has no right to tell me how I chose to rent my property and/or charge me for the privilege of renting it. I’m already taxed 6 ways to Sunday as it is and this nonsense adds zero value anything. This is both infuriating and a horrible precedent, what liberty will they take away next!
Short term rentals are a
Mark VHShort term rentals are a commercial entity. Private homes cannot be both commercial and residential. So what is your property? Either you live there or you rent it; you can’t have both. Islanders have had the opportunity to rent out their homes a few months out of the year for far too long. The days of price gouging vacationers just to bankroll your groovy island lifestyle are over.
I appreciate this important
Celia EdgartownI appreciate this important debate. In my view, it’s time to try something. Hedge funds and individual billionaires need not control the MV private residence market as in other places. If this proposed set of restrictions does not work for the health of our island, we have the power to adjust or remove them.
I believe an owner living full time on a property with a guest house should be allowed to rent the ancillary residence without restriction.
Do you really think hedge
Mark EdgartownDo you really think hedge funds and billionaires are buying the housing stock meant for year time employees? They want beach front and large land parcels. This argument doesn’t hold water.
The headline of the article
Chappy Guy ChappyThe headline of the article should be "West Tisbury bans investment properties," as the 30-day residency requirement would require classification of properties as personal residences, with significant tax implications and, as a result, property value implications. Good points have been made on both sides of the argument, but the Gazette should at least highlight this major implication of the new bylaw, as the result will be a significant reduction in ALL property values, as even properties that are not rented today have valuations that consider their potential to be investment properties.
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