Tennessee Lawmakers Take Aim At Local Short-Term Rental Bans, Regulations

NASHVILLE, TN — Two small-town Tennessee Republican lawmakers have filed a bill that would set statewide regulations on short-term rental properties, like those rented through Airbnb or Homeway, two companies which, coincidentally, helped the two legislators write the bill.

The bill, filed Thursday by Rep. Cameron Sexton of Crossville and Sen. John Stevens of Huntington, would not only hamstring cities like Nashville from imposing stricter requirements on the short-term rental business, but would overturn local bans, which have been enacted in cities statewide, including Brentwood.

The proposal is not totally laissez-faire, as it still allows local governments to set regulations on health and safety, and it does enact a set of statewide standards, which would include permitting, remitting the appropriate hotel-motel taxes and complying with local noise, parking and pollution laws.

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Short-term rental properties have drawn ire in Nashville, particularly in neighborhoods — in trendy areas like East Nashville and 12South — that have a high-level of non-owner-occupied STRPs. Neighbors complain that the houses essentially become party flops, with reports of nudity, drunkenness and, in at least one instance detailed at a recent Metro Council meeting, outdoor group sex.

The sponsors of the bill insist they are not targeting Nashville with the legislation, as the Metro Council works through the latest round of regulations, but instead that they just want a standard set of procedures from Memphis to Mountain City.

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