After speaking with one of the developers, who by the way was very nice, intelligent, articulate, and willing to speak with me for as long as necessary, here is what I learned regarding how the developer views the renting of homes and if this practice is allowed under the deed restrictions.
There are two deed restrictions that come into play when it comes to rentals, one is that Villages homes are restricted to being used as single-family residences, and the second is that homeowners are not allowed to operate a business out of their homes.
As far as rentals by homeowners who are NOT LIVING in their homes while they are being rented, weather they are part time residents, snowbirds, or investors, the developer does not see this as a violation of any deed restriction as long as they are renting to someone using the home as a single family residence. In other words, they can not rent to multiple parties at the same time. Since the homeowner is not living there while the home is being rented, they are not considered to be operating a business out of their house. This situation also applies to homeowners renting their entire house using the Airbnb platform, as long as the homeowner is not living in the home while it is being rented. Under this scenario, using the airbnb platform is no different than using a rental agency to find renters for the home.
On the other hand, Airbnb hosts who are LIVING IN THEIR HOMES and renting out space in their homes to others while they continue to live there are in clear violation of both deed restrictions. First, the residence is not being used as a single family residence when both the owners and renters are sharing space under the same roof. And second, if a homeowner is living in their home and renting out space in their home to third party renter's (which they have to report income on to the appropriate taxing authorities) then they are clearly running a business out of their home.
The developer made it clear to me that their job is not to police the approximately 150,000 (and growing rapidly) homes in the Villages and insure that each one is in compliance with all deed restrictions. The policemen of the Villages are the residents, who can submit violations of deed restrictions to community standards. Each and every complaint is taken seriously and looked into. So Airbnb hosts that are living in their homes and renting to third parties are clearly in violation of deed restrictions, but the violation will only be addressed one home at a time each time a complaint is received on an individual residence.
The way I view it is that if an Airbnb host is running a very good business, carefully screening potential renters, and keeping the renters totally in line so that the business does not disrupt the neighborhood, no one is likely to complain and it will be business as usual. On the other hand, the Airbnb operations that become disruptive to the neighborhood will most likely get reported to community standards and hopefully their disruptive business will discontinue operating.
Regardless of how good or bad an operation each and every Villages Airbnb host runs, who is renting space in their home while living in the home, you are in violation of two deed restrictions and have to live with that.
Hope this helps clarify things regarding Airbnb and deed compliance.
|