To see a copy of the Judge's decision click here.
Below are excerpts from an Herald Tribune article. To read the full article, click here.
Venice Ruling Could Apply To Other Areas
A circuit judge’s ruling that Venice acted illegally when it banned short-term rentals may have implications for other communities trying to regulate [vacation] rentals in neighborhoods of single-family homes...
On Thursday, city officials and the landlord at the center of the Venice case, Steve Milo, were still weighing the impact of the judge’s March 14, 2008 ruling. But it could be far-reaching.
More investors and homeowners in Florida are turning to vacation
rentals to earn money from properties they cannot sell.
Property owners have to get a state license to rent... frequently and
must pay taxes. Venice argued that... the license meant Milo was operating a commercial enterprise that is not allowed in neighborhoods of single-family homes.
“The city went way beyond their power,” said Valerie Fernandez, managing partner of the Pacific Legal Foundation... “They tried to take away existing property rights by using an unrelated state statute.”
Milo is not ready to crack the champagne yet, he said.
Whether the city accepts the ruling or appeals and loses, it faces steep legal fees at a time when the city’s budget is being cut to meet voter-mandated property tax cut requirements.
“I’ve spent several hundred thousand dollars,” Milo said. “And there
are other damages that our legal team is working to put full figures on.”
The city spent at least $46,000 in legal fees from October until
January, the most recent figures available.
Even if the city drafts an ordinance banning short-term rentals... it will be difficult to regulate existing rentals.
In its second precedent-setting short-term rental case in Brevard County, the Pacific Legal Foundation is fighting on behalf of a woman who claims her economic rights were violated when the county passed a ban on rentals for less than 90 days in 2005.
Instead of allowing people who were already renting to continue... Brevard phased out the practice, telling the woman she could no longer rent short-term after six months. That case is pending, but a judge has refused three times to dismiss it...
“It’s not enough for Venice to pass something,” Gieseler said. “There
needs to be substantive effort to make sure constitutional rights
are respected.”
1 comment:
I've been to Venice, it's a quiet sleepy little town, if they can't ban vacation rentals in Venice, they can't ban them here in Miami Beach, this is stupid.
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