Tiny House Vacation Rental Troubles
The vacation rental home industry is booming in the Phoenix metro area! A quick search on AirBnB turned up over 300 properties available for rent this coming weekend alone. Realizing there is money to be made, many people (and investment companies) have been converting Valley homes to vacation rental properties in the past several years.
The increase in popularity of Valley vacation rentals has also led to the realization that the current city and state ordinances regarding this type of short-term rental property are, at best, lacking in clarity. Even vacation rental homeowners who’ve done the research before converting their properties can find themselves with legal troubles.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to Gilbert and Cassandra Cardenas of Phoenix. The couple had built an astoundingly cute “tiny house” in their backyard and had already enjoyed several years of success offering the dwelling as a vacation rental – with the blessing and support of their immediate neighbors.
Gilbert and Cassandra thought they were well within Phoenix city ordinance, since their tiny home was to be used for short-term rentals only AND it was on wheels. Due to a couple of anonymous complaints, the City of Phoenix now says the tiny home (nicknamed “The Nest”) must be “attached” to their existing house OR the Cardenases need to have their property rezoned as “multi-family” in order to continue their vacation rental endeavor.
With HB 2672 signed into law recently, the State of Arizona has already taken some steps to formally place some restrictions and reporting requirements on vacation rental home owners (read our Moxie blog on the subject!) The vacation rental home market shows no signs of slowing down, so we suspect that Phoenix and surrounding cities will become more specific with their own regulations for short-term rentals in the near future.
The owners of The Nest are examining their options – one of which may be to sell the tiny home they worked so hard to construct. It IS adorable – check it out HERE. To read the full AZ Central coverage of this story, click HERE.
Moxie Girl is the leader in vacation rental home care, servicing over 100 beautiful vacation rentals throughout the Valley. We are just as interested as you are in making your vacation rental home a success! CLICK HERE to see what Moxie Girl can do for you.
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