Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: short term rental policies

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 21, 2022, at 10:03 PM, Karin Hoskin <karinhoskin [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> When Wild Sage first formed about 20 years ago Airbnb / VRBO simply was not
> a thing aaaaand now it is.  I'm on the hunt for
> short term rental policies for a cohousing community home ... does anyone
> have anything to share?

Normally we don’t allow rentals shorter than a month. Sometimes people say that 
friends or family will be using their unit over the weekend and will introduce 
them by name. The Bylaws say no transient use. Transient is usually defined as 
less than 30 days. 

But whatever you do, and since you have been around for 20 years you know this, 
make provisions for an _onsite_ host for anyone staying anywhere on the 
property. Things happen. Emergencies come up. Someone has to take 
responsibility for “unknowns”. Someone needs to know the name of the person who 
is now dead and hanging over the fence.

Any program/option/opportunity has a workload attached. For a neighbor to have 
to give directions to the local pharmacy or subway over and over and over, 
becomes work for most people. Some people adore being a host and meeting new 
people. If you have such a person, then you may have an opportunity to allow 
people to experience cohousing with short term stays that don’t affect the 
whole neighborhood.

The other issue is “who is this person”? People who have stayed here are known 
to the owners and often to other residents — friends and relatives who are 
repeat guests over the years. But people making reservations on BnB are 
unknowns. The absent owner can’t vouch for them.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org