At the June 22 meeting of the Livonia Town Board,  in Livingston County, a resident came before the board and asked why Livonia does not have a short term rental law.  The proposed law was discussed and public hearings were held for two years, but later tabled.

The resident advised that the house next to her is advertising as being able to sleep 22 people, and wondered about parking for that many, as well as garbage disposal and short term tenants starting fires with no knowledge of wind blowing sparks and smoke to neighbors’ windows in the area which is densely populated. She pointed out that that both Air B&B and VRBO rentals on Conesus Lake have increased dramatically over the past few years.

The Livonia Town Board took no action on the residents’ requests, except to say they have a draft of the proposed short-term rental law from last year,  but had not approved it.

At present, according to the Livingston County Planning Board, no towns around Conesus Lake (Livingston County) have short-term rental laws.  However, Ontario County has several towns with short-term rental laws. Both Ontario and Livingston County have most of their Air B&B type rentals in their most densely populated lakeside residential districts, although those with the short-term rental laws apply to every short-term rental in the town, wherever it is.

In Ontario County, the Town of Canadice which partially borders on Honeoye Lake, recently passed a comparatively lenient short-term rental law that placed a limit of 12 per house to rent in a short-term rental situation, with the premises to be inspected by a zoning officer for a permit, prior to initial rental.

Town of Canandaigua in Ontario County has had a stricter short-term rental law, particularly in those areas which are largely residentially zoned.  Canandaigua’s short-term rental law requires a special use permit, obtained through the planning commission to have a short-term rental business (rented for 14 days or less) in a residential zone, and it must be the owner’s primary residence. Hosts are required to register with the city and obtain a zoning certificate ($220 application fee), collect a 12% transient occupancy tax, and pay an additional 2% enforcement fee. Non-hosted rentals are capped at 90 days per year. They also have a rental property registry, and an initial zoning inspection.

Geneva (also in Ontario County) has had a short-term rental law for several years, and updated it in 2020 to put more “teeth” into the law.  According to then Supervisor Mark Venuti, “At that time people asked us to ban rentals. We can’t do that, but we can regulate it. We were hearing from neighbors who were constantly disturbed by renters, and couldn’t get owners to respond….Property owners were also charging high rents, and it was driving up property values and our driving year-round residents away.” In Town of Geneva, on Seneca Lake, one of the main requirements is that property owners must live locally for seven months out of the year, to ensure that the rentals are properly supervised.

The Town of Richmond, on Honeoye Lake, in Ontario County, is one of the Ontario County lake towns who have no short-term rental regulations, nor are they planning one.  According to zoning officer Spencer Shumway, “we’ve talked about it off and on, but I can’t say there are plans to have one. There are about 75 of these on the lake, but not all short-term rentals are on the lake…and yes, people tell us they had great neighbors for a week, and then the next week, maybe not…and they’re not all summer…some people rent to go to Bristol or Swain or skiing, but overall, there’s not a lot of problems…for us, the problem would be staffing if we did do this (have a short-term rental law).  It would take a lot of manpower and a lot of expense to inspect all these places, keep records on them…and we’re just not equipped right now to do that.”

Years ago, in the 1970’s. New York State Zoning law required that when zones for businesses, residences, agricultural and other uses were established in a town, businesses along the lakes were giving special “pre-existing non-conforming” status.  Around the lakes, pre-existing businesses were given that status with the understanding that once those businesses went out of business for more than a year, the properties with pre-existing non-conforming status would revert to the surrounding zone (in most cases lakeside residential). For that reason, many of the businesses such as restaurants and inns that used to be on those lakes but closed, are now houses, since they lost their non-conforming status, and the property ceased to become a business property, only residential, making the zones around lakes more consistent in residential use, with mostly residences in residential districts, businesses in business districts, and farms in agricultural zones.

 

However, with the advent of Air B&B and Vrrbo and the internet, a new type of business has emerged on the lakes in the category of Short Term Vacation Rentals, which has caused friction between people who bought homes in a residential area, and now find themselves next door to businesses drawing far more traffic, refuse, and noise than a usual residence or weekend cottage would bring, leaving towns on every Finger Lake struggling to decide if they should call them businesses and regulate them as such, or call the short-term rentals homes, and leave the regulation up to the owners.  Competitive properties like hotels and motels who have paid occupancy taxes and have been subject to strict regulation on safety measures, exits, number of people per room, etc.  are also lobbying for short-term rentals to be held to the same accountability for safety measures and paying county occupancy fees, seeing any less as allowing unfair business competition.

Some would argue these short-term rental properties are homes, and as such, should not be regulated any more than homes. Others suggest that short-term rentals change the neighborhoods and often become a problem for neighbors with parking infringements, extra noise, overpopulation of a single home, etc. and ask their towns to declare them businesses, and regulate or ban the short-term rental businesses as well as any other kind of business, in residential neighborhoods.

Towns are divided on whether or not they should have regulations, and lawsuits have popped up challenging local government’s rights to establish laws concerning short term rentals. In Skaneateles, NY, on Onondaga Lake, the village board voted to ban all short-term rentals in the village, wanting to retain the “small town” atmosphere of the village. The village sent cease and desist letters to the 31 owners of the short term rentals already in operation.  One decided to sue, but the village board’s decision on the short term rental ban was upheld by the state appellate court. In Grand Island, Wallace vs. Grand Island, the courts also upheld the right of towns wanting to establish bans on short-term rentals in certain areas, and their right not to give variances in those zones.

But at present, the laws in each town across the state vary greatly, and some don’t even define the term “short term rental,” as towns decide on whether or not they should regulate short term rentals as residential properties or businesses. Owners of the properties need to make sure they are aware of the laws in the community where they buy a short-term rental, knowing that laws are different from one community to another, and changing as towns grapple with the changing face of renting, since the emergence and popularity of the short-term rental internet agencies.