By Yasha Rodriguiez, JD, Ph.D., and Luis Enrique Ramos-Santiago, Ph.D.
The city of Greenville has generated a lot of buzz in the past few years as one of the best places to live and visit.
But if it wants to remain on those best places to live, then our leadership needs to do something about the rising number of short-term rentals proliferating within our 29.92 square miles. While in theory, the idea of an Airbnb is a way for people looking for a different travel experience to visit a new place works, the actual implementation of it is a failure.
When Airbnbs were first becoming a concept, people were supposed to rent out rooms in their house. The owner was onsite. However, that has morphed into a vacation home type model where the owner buys a house in a popular city to simply rent out to vacationers. Now it’s not even a person with a vacation home trying to make more money. Corporate entities are buying up houses in Greenville just to use them as Airbnbs or other short-term rentals.
These short-term rentals exist in a strange place in our city codes and regulations. They are zoned as a hotel/motel, but have almost none of the regulations of an actual hotel or motel. There is no on-site security and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance is barely enforced. While the city does have rules for bed and breakfasts, for some reason short-term rentals are not under that category.
The short-term rental conundrum creates myriad problems for Greenvillians.
The first is that people and companies with larger bankrolls can outbid first-time homebuyers, people on fixed incomes and people in blue-collar jobs. An already tight real estate market is amplified when these people have to try and outspend a company not even located in Greenville. What is better for the health of Greenville neighborhoods — a family living in a home or a weekly rotation of bachelor parties?
That question leads in to the second problem: noise and property damage. Now, only a small portion of people who stay at these short-term rentals are going to cause problems. However, the onus shouldn’t be on people living in the neighborhood to file noise complaints every week in the hopes that six months down the road that a nuisance business may or may not be shut down.
But noise isn’t the only issue. There is parking as the renters will plant their cars and trucks on streets that don’t allow them, blocking shared driveways and simply creating traffic delays from moving in and out every few days. Then there [are] people dropping their detritus of pets and late-night beer runs in neighborhood sidewalks and yards. Now, yes, residents do this as well, but it goes up with “tourists” who have no interest in the neighborhood.
So what is the solution? An absolute ban? No, Greenville should not go that route. But it can strengthen its current codes by making some of the following changes.
- The property must be the owner’s primary residence as indicated by tax records and supporting application.
- Put in quota for allowable number of short-term rentals in neighborhoods and cap licenses when a specified number is reached
- The property owner must be present on the property when the property is rented.
- Guests are limited to one family or four unrelated persons.
- Violators face loss of operational permit and a fine of $1,087.00 per day.
- Put a ban on changing residential houses to short-term rentals in special emphasis neighborhoods or areas zoned commercial.
These are not draconian changes. They actually come from the city of Charleston, which has long had to deal with more tourist volume then Greenville can even imagine. It seems to me that the Charleston ordinance strikes a balance in favor of quality of life for residents, a balance that accepts the reality of short-term rentals but limits the nuisance factors.
If a city is not forward thinking and if a city does not take bold and decisive action, a problem can quickly become a nightmare. This is a battle no residents want, but it is one in which we must engage. It would seem to go without saying that a city, or better yet communities, cannot be built on the foundation of short-term renters. My hope is that, if short-term rentals must be a reality, Greenville should adopt a Charleston-like approach.
Yasha Rodriguez and Luis Enrique Ramos-Santiago are Greenville city residents. Rodriguez is an independent property specialist. Ramos-Santiago has decades of experience as an architect and urban planner.
