The fight over short-term rental rules spreads to more of the Charlotte region

Marty Wilcox McCarthy has been renting out a few homes on Lake Norman in Lincoln County since 2015, and one of her rules is simple — no partying. A trash system is also set up to keep the areas clean.

“My neighbors don’t complain at all about my short-term rentals,” she said.

But that’s not case for all homeowners in the Lake Norman area.

Short-term rentals for Airbnb, VRBO and similar groups are becoming a concern with complaints about noise, fighting and trash left behind from visitors. Lincoln County officials are now looking at changing regulations because of the problem, which is a controversial issue for a number of counties in the Charlotte region.

Renters in Rock Hill may also be impacted with Rock Hill City Council members strongly considering a zoning change in November. If approved, short-term rental owners would only be allowed to rent out homes in commercial areas. Property owners with rental sites in residential areas would have five years to continue business before having to comply with the new rules.

Frustrated Lincoln County residents expressed their concerns about problems with short-term rentals during an October meeting with the board of commissioners.

Maria Nahigian read a letter on behalf of the Wilcox family who live near a short-term rental. She said they called law enforcement about nudity and being confronted by someone from a large group of people renting from VRBO.

As a property owner, “compromise,” sounds a lot better than “banning” for McCarthy. Workshops in Lincoln County were held with residents, officials, and short-term landlords to discuss the issue.

“We’re just trying to be reasonable on both sides,” McCarthy said. “It’s really just been a couple of bad apples that caused this whole issue to begin with.”

A proposed amendment to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance would require rental owners like McCarthy to obtain zoning permits for short-term rentals. If the amendment passes, permits would be allowed only in residential districts.

Finding a solution

Joshua Grant, planning and inspections manager for Lincoln County, said the county has not had any rules and regulations for short-term rentals.

Now, Lincoln County officials are considering changes while keeping the Schroeder v. city of Wilmington case in mind. The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of owners David and Peg Schroeder because the city was violating a state statute by requiring short-term rental operators to register their properties.

The court also struck down a limit on the number of properties in certain parts of the city and requirement to keep rentals separated by a certain distance. Last year, Charlotte scrapped proposed regulations for short-term rentals in the Unified Development Ordinance because of the case in Wilmington.

In Lincoln County, a task force was established in the fall to define what those standards should be. A majority of rentals in Lincoln County are vacation-type places owned by private landowners and managed through Airbnb.

County staff provided standards for owners to follow, including weekly trash collections, and rules for required parking spaces and no large gatherings, Grant said.

The work group hopes to finish by mid-December for a recommendation to be presented in January or February.

Regulations elsewhere in the region

Iredell County introduced a similar amendment in October requiring owners to get permits for their rentals. The rule also limits the number of occupants in a rental at two people per bedroom, plus two additional guests. Permit changes go into effect Jan. 1, according to the county’s short-term rental regulations.

Union County ordinances do not allow short-term rentals in unincorporated areas of the county and Hembry Bridge.

The planning department would follow up on any complaints related to short-term rentals, but the county does not get frequent complaints about them, spokeswoman Liz Cooper said in an email statement.

Concerns in York County

In York County, South Carolina, there wasn’t a definition for short-term rentals before the codes were updated about couple of years ago. Such rentals weren’t allowed before the codes were updated.

Jonathan Buono, planning and development services director, said York County took a “toe in the water” approach with regulating short-term rentals since it was new to the process. He said the county wasn’t getting the volume of complaints that some of the Carolina coastal communities are getting.

“It’s so popular and it’s such an embedded part of the economy that it’s creating a housing crunch,” Buono said. “There’s housing inventory that people aren’t living in and they’re just rented year-round. It raises the prices for anyone actually trying to live in those jurisdictions.”

Buono said the county doesn’t have those problems when it come to short-term rentals. Having restrictions on the books is helpful for York County to point out issues through code enforcement, Buono said.

“But every once in a while, you get a party house that goes too far,” he said.