On the surface, Bil Stewart’s home in the Walden on Lake Houston community seems idyllic. Set along a serene waterfront, it’s the kind of tranquil setting perfect for the golden years.
“It’s a beautiful place,” Stewart said. “It’s quite expensive, but not fantastically so.”
But a closer look reveals signs of an increasingly bitter neighborhood feud. Stewart’s peace has been disrupted by what he describes as a revolving door of short-term renters at the house next door, which is being advertised on Airbnb.
“It just seemed like we’d moved into a mob neighborhood of scum,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s neighbors have a much different view of the situation.
An attorney working on behalf of the short-term rental owners has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Stewart.
Particularly, the letter demands that Stewart allow the homeowners to operate their legal business without interference.
“I think the essential problem is that when one neighbor tries to enforce their own standard of a neighborhood on everyone else, it doesn’t matter whether it is short-term rentals or long-term rental, there’s always, you know, neighborhood disputes between the neighbors, especially in large cities such as Houston,” said attorney Mahsa Monshizadegan. “But how you resolve the issue matters. The matters should be, all disputes should be resolved through good faith and not like unilateral enforcement of their own demands.”
By his own admission, Stewart had mounted an aggressive defense of his peace and quiet with signage directed at short-term rental guests.
Stewart has also video recorded guests at the property next door and traded harsh words with some of the guests.
The bottom line is that Stewart and his fellow residents have little legal recourse.
The Walden neighborhood has no deed restrictions barring short-term rentals. A recent city ordinance now requires hosts to register properties and follow certain rules, but it stops short of prohibition.
Texas Supreme Court favors short-term renters
Some attorneys, like Patrick Sutton, argue that property owners have every right to rent their homes as they see fit.
Sutton is not connected with the Walden on Lake Houston issue but has fought both municipalities and HOAs that aim to curtail short-term rentals.
“The right to decide how long someone stays in your house goes back 2,000 years,” Sutton said. “Now cities and HOAs are trying to take control of that, and it doesn’t make any sense.”
Sutton points to a few Texas court cases in particular.
The Texas Supreme Court has generally made judgements in favor of property owners who want to lease their properties, at a duration of their own choosing.
Cities that aim to completely outlaw the practice of short-term renting have often run into trouble because of this. And municipalities often find they have to prove, in detail, why such a restrictive action is necessary.
In April 2022, the Supreme Court of Texas delivered a blow to homeowners’ associations that seek to prohibit short-term renting through deed restrictions.
In “JBRICE Holdings, LLC v Wilcrest Walk Townhomes Association,” the court found the corporate owner of two townhomes had the right to lease them on a short-term basis, even when a “residential use only” deed restriction was in place.
There remains a debate on whether renting a home, short-term, still constitutes “residential use.”
The Supreme Court of Texas found that deed covenants did not authorize HOAs to impose arbitrary restriction on lease lengths.
The court also found that state property code also does not prohibit short-term rentals.
“Is a 29-day tenant worse than a 31-day tenant, or a six-month tenant? There is no data or evidence that that’s the case. Indeed, the data and evidence are all to the contrary that short-term rentals tend to be better because homeowners have furnished these and wish to attract the highest rental rates,” Sutton said.
