Couple wants Orange commission to allow short-term vacation rentals
An Orange County couple had been hosting travelers from around the world for more than five years using Airbnb, but a single anonymous complaint shut them down.
Short-term rentals of fewer than 30 days are banned in most residential areas of the county, but vacation rental listings on Airbnb and other websites have usually been ignored unless Code Enforcement receives a complaint.
So David Beatty and Cheryle RomeBeatty plan to ask the County Commission on Tuesday to allow vacation rentals if the owners stay on the property, as they did. The change, if approved, would be too late for them, they said.
“We were going to [eventually] sell our house to travel to international places,” said David Beatty. “Now, it’s going to happen a hell of a lot sooner. We’re not saying,
‘Do this in the next two months so we can stay a couple more years.’ We enjoyed it. It’s for the next people.”
Such “hosted rentals,” essentially a bed and breakfast, are already a step closer to being allowed in Orlando. The city Planning Board in November recommended the change to the City Council, which could vote to move forward with drafting an ordinance Monday.
Including the rest of Orange County would be the obvious next step, the couple said.
“We always wanted a bed and breakfast when we retired,” said Cheryle RomeBeatty. “We’re very sociable people, and we like to entertain.”
The Beattys’ 1960s-era home on Sweetbriar Road, about three miles south of downtown Orlando, features such European touches as a recessed shower and a bidet. One of the two guest rooms is decorated with an Asian art collection, while the other overlooks the pool.
“One Thanksgiving, we ended up with nine different people from three different countries, all sitting around the table,” David Beatty said.
His wife added that two of them held a whole conversation using Google Translate.
“And a third of them, they want to cook for us,” David Beatty said.
The couple said they charged about $72 for an overnight stay and reported all income to the state and county for tax purposes. Orange, they argued, was losing out on not only their tax revenue but the money spent in the county by their guests.
“People that want to stay at a four-star hotel are never going to stay at a bed and breakfast,” David Beatty said. “And people who stay at bed and breakfasts are not hotel people.”
Mirjam Trame, who stayed with the couple while looking for a home in Orlando, said she couldn’t believe they can no longer rent their home.
“Some guests have been back four or five times,” Trame said. “They’re not coming back to Orlando again if they’re staying at a hotel, I can guarantee you.”
The couple said they hadn’t heard that many complaints from neighbors, pointing out guests parked in their driveway and not the street.
“There’s a fear of Airbnb by people who haven’t done it,” David Beatty said, adding he understands concerns about absentee owners potentially buying and renting out a large number of apartments and rooms in one location.
Carol Knox, Orange County Zoning Division manager, said bed and breakfasts are allowed in certain rural or agricultural zones in the county, but not the Beattys’ residential zone just east of Orange Avenue.
A state law passed in 2014 prevents counties or cities from banning or restricting vacation rentals, but grandfathered in any ordinance from before 2011, which Knox said applies to Orange’s ordinance.
Commissioner Pete Clarke, whose district includes the couple’s home, said the county should take a look at the idea.
“It’s going to take a lot of discussion,” Clarke said. “You look at how Orlando [is considering it], but Orange County is more suburban. … How intrusive is it? There’s a lot to consider.”
Matt Kiessling, vice president of the Travel Technology Association, an industry trade group that includes Airbnb on its board, said he thinks vacation rentals should be allowed with no conditions. Anti-shortterm-rental ordinances, he said, only exist due to “antiquated laws.”
“Whether it’s a primary or secondary residence, it’s irrelevant,” Kiessling said. “Owners should be able to do as they wish with their properties.”
But limiting it only to “hosted” rentals, he said, “is incredibly difficult to enforce. It’s not something that makes a whole lot of sense. … In Florida, there are plenty of temporary residents, snowbirds who are north in the summer and south in the winter.”
The Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association did not return requests for comment.
David Beatty said he thinks the Central Florida hotel industry would fight the change.
“Just because hotels want their way, [Orange County] will lose out,” he said. “It takes a certain odd person to want to do Airbnb. People open to adventure. It’s a whole different thing.” slemongello@orlando sentinel.com or 407-418-5920