The Dallas short-term rental fight had its day in court on Wednesday morning.
Most Airbnbs and VRBOs throughout the city of Dallas have been banned for over a year now, but that ordinance has not been enforced.
The short-term rental fight began in June 2023 when the Dallas City Council passed a ban on short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods, potentially putting more than 90% of all Dallas short-term rentals out of business.
The city of Dallas passed two ordinances to regulate short-term rentals last June which limited the number of people per bedroom to three, limited the number of guests to 12, restricted noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and created a minimum stay of two nights.
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That ordinance was later challenged in court by short-term rental operators, who argued it did not allow existing operators to be grandfathered in. A court entered a temporary injunction in December 2023, which prevented the city from enforcing the ordinance while any possible appeals were pending.
Because of the pending lawsuit, short-term rentals continued operating.
The trial to determine whether Dallas can ban short-term rentals is set for Wednesday.NBC 5 talked to Dallas City Councilmember Chad West in September who said he still gets calls about problems with short-term rentals in his district, which covers parts of Oak Cliff and Bishop Arts.
It cost Dallas taxpayers $1.3 million to set up the STR code compliance program, and it continues to cost them $650,000 a year to run it according to testimony from the code compliance services director.
