Spring-Training Rental Makes This Property Owner Happy

Question: In your column you are always criticizing short-term rentals. We are retired and have a nice Peoria home near the baseball fields. During spring training season, we rent our Peoria home for six weeks to out-of-state baseball fans who support the baseball teams in the area. During these six weeks we stay with my son’s family in Gilbert. Our short-term rental income for six weeks pays the mortgage on our Peoria home for the entire year. We have only had two complaints from our neighbors about the short-term rentals of our home, and those complaints simply related to our short-term rentals having other people staying with them in the Peoria home. We quickly got those two complaints resolved. The short-term rental of our Peoria home has been wonderful for us in our retirement years, so give short-term rentals a break!

Answer: The problem is not short-term rentals of homes in Peoria like yours (and similar short-term rentals in Scottsdale) for spring training baseball fans. The problem is that a state law was passed five years ago that basically prohibits cities and towns like Peoria from regulating short-term rentals. The six-week short-term rental of your Peoria home is much different than six weeks of bachelor parties, and you would definitely then get more than two complaints in six weeks from your neighbors.

Note: The Town of Paradise Valley has recently passed significant regulation of short-term rentals, including emergency contact information, restrictions on excessive noise after 10:00 p.m., and background checks for registered sex offenders.