Texas Attorney General Joins Short-Term Rental Lawsuit Against City Of Austin

AUSTIN, TX -- The Texas Attorney General on Wednesday intervened in a lawsuit against the City of Austin over its short-term rental ordinance, categorizing the law as outside of the city's authority.

In passing its recent ordinance, the city tried to strike a balance between owners' rights and quality-of-life concerns for residents living in the dwellings' midst beset by an abundance of STRs in their neighborhoods and the invariable parties that come along with them.

STRs are secondary homes owned by property owners rented out by their owners to out-of-town guests, charging high rates during times of limited available hotel space to visitors lured to SXSW and other major events in the city. A high concentration of STRs is located in East Austin, a trendy part of the city popular by out-of-towners.

A growing number of residents -- many of them families with children needing sleep to attend school each morning -- complained to the city of the intrusion posed by the STRs. In response, the city passed an ordinance tightening STRs rules in February, including banning more than six unrelated adults per property and prohibiting outdoor gatherings after 10 p.m. By 2022, most STRs will be phased out per the ordinance.

By June, the conservative lobbying group Texas Public Policy Foundation, sued the city on the basis that the ordinance was too draconian. On Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton signed on to the opposition on the same grounds while labeling the law as too stringent.

“This blatant overreach by local government infringes upon the constitutional rights of people who own and stay at short-term rentals," Paxton said in a news advisory. "The city of Austin’s draconian ordinance defies logic and common sense, and must be struck down.”

In his press release on the matter, Paxton invoked the Constitutional ideals of freedom of assembly and safeguards against unlawful search and seizure as a motivation for his joining the lawsuit.

"The ordinance...violates the freedom of assembly by prohibiting more than 10 people at a time from using a property and no more than six from congregating in the property’s yard outside," his press statement reads. "Additionally, the rules allow code compliance officers to enter a short-term rental property at any time – violating homeowner protections against unlawful search and seizure."

This isn't the first time Paxton has inserted himself into local matters. He previously filed suit against the city for its prohibition of guns at its City Hall building. Like other Republican lawmakers (led by Gov. Greg Abbott), Paxton champions the state's "open carrry" law that took effect on Jan. 1.

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