{"id":477790,"date":"2025-12-29T14:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T14:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477790\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T14:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T14:21:16","slug":"houstons-party-house-crackdown-starts-january-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477790\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s Party House Crackdown Starts January 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helen and Van Arnold have offered rental homes near the Texas Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center for more than 20 years, and they weren\u2019t concerned about Houston\u2019s short-term rental ordinance<\/a> and the associated fees that come with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Until they got a letter from the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Arnolds don\u2019t operate party houses; they provide a much-needed service for the loved ones of cancer patients and people who are recovering after a hospital stay. They also don\u2019t operate short-term rentals, defined as dwellings that are rented for 30 days or less. The Arnolds\u2019 properties have a 60-day minimum stay requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Van Arnold was surprised when he got a letter featuring Mayor John Whitmire\u2019s seal at the top telling him he had to pay up or be booted from the Airbnb platform where he gets most of his business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to pay it,\u201d Arnold told the Houston Press. \u201cI\u2019m not going to go through the city process. They want you to take classes and they\u2019re going to start treating us like a hotel instead of a rental property.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A strict review of the letter indicates Arnold probably won\u2019t have to register or pay any fees. <\/p>\n

A 2024 estimate showed that 8,548 Houston short-term rentals were advertised on various platforms. About 27 percent of those properties had received a call to Houston police between November 2023 and November 2024, according to city documents<\/a>. Market data suggests there could be as many as 20,000 short-term rentals in Houston but many don\u2019t advertise on public platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Administration and Regulatory Affairs Director Tina Paez said about 2,000 registrations have been approved to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Late last year, residents with Houstonians Against Airbnb<\/a> began airing their grievances at a series of Houston City Council meetings, telling horror stories of the short-term rental guests that have kept them up all hours of the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"More than 8,000 short-term rentals were identified throughout Houston last year. Credit: City of Houston Administration and Regulatory Affairs<\/p>\n

Party houses are popular in touristy parts of the city like Montrose, Midtown and The Heights, and activity ramps up during spring break and the summertime when big groups get together for pool parties. But in some areas, renters hold large gatherings year-round, residents have said, referring to some of the problem properties as brothels and whorehouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Short-term rental operators are now required to register with the city and pay an annual $275-per-property fee. They also have to show proof that they\u2019ve paid their 17 percent hotel occupancy taxes and completed human trafficking awareness training. Operators can\u2019t advertise their properties as event spaces and have to provide a 24-7 emergency contact who must respond to complaints within an hour.<\/p>\n

Enforcement begins January 1, and the city will begin contacting platforms like Airbnb and VRBO in April to remove hosts that are noncompliant, according to a FAQ list<\/a> on the city website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ordinance is intended to reduce noise, trash and parking violations and deter criminal activity like drug use, prostitution and trafficking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

S\u00e9bastien Long, CEO of Houston-based hospitality company Lodgeur<\/a>, operates 135 furnished rental apartments and says not only does the Houston ordinance do nothing to address public safety, it also punishes good operators who have never had a complaint and go out of their way to ensure that their tenants are good neighbors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was meant to be about public safety but clearly it\u2019s about bureaucracy or some sort of power trip,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI continue to be unimpressed by [Administration and Regulatory Affairs] work,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re making it unnecessarily difficult to get a permit. They\u2019re treating us like bad actors, like we don\u2019t have permission to rent out these properties. We couldn\u2019t apply for a permit for three weeks because the system didn\u2019t work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Long was ultimately able to file for a permit for one of his apartments two months ago and it still hasn\u2019t been approved, he said. By comparison, he registered a property in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and had a $100 permit within 48 hours. The North Texas city also provided an inspection to ensure that safety equipment was on site, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to waste our money if they\u2019re going to mess us around,\u201d he said of the Houston registration process, noting that he\u2019ll end up paying upwards of $40,000 in fees because he has to permit each individual unit, according to the ordinance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Language about liability and whether an owner or an operator is responsible for the property still doesn\u2019t match up in the ordinance and the registration form, Long said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not asking for any change in the legal text of the ordinance at this stage,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we\u2019re asking is that ARA\u2019s application process mirrors the legal text of the ordinance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initially, the Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department required operators who rented multiple rooms of the same home to get a permit and pay a fee for each room. That\u2019s been resolved now, but it took weeks to do so and caused one 75-year-old widower who supplements her income with room rentals to almost give up on the process, Long said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween the complexity of the process and initially being told she\u2019d have to apply for a permit for each room, she was quite distraught,\u201d Long said. \u201cIt\u2019s freaking people out. People who have worked in this community for 10 years without a single problem or incident are [closing their Houston rentals] because they perceive this as a massive hassle and liability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city council members keep telling us we\u2019re the good guys and yet the ARA is treating us like criminals, basically,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to prove we\u2019re not liars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The registration fees don\u2019t go toward enforcement; they will be used to pay for \u201cHost Compliance\u201d software to the tune of $1.6 million. A third-party vendor, Granicus, is tasked with maintaining the registration database. The city\u2019s contract with Granicus is about $350,000 per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paez said she expects the ordinance will be effective in weeding out bad actors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enforcement is not designed to harm \u2018good\u2019 STRs, and compliance should improve business for STRs that operate responsibly,\u201d Paez said in an email. \u201cThey could potentially realize more business since the city\u2019s dashboard will allow the public to see which properties are registered and in good standing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short-Term Rental Enforcement\u00a0<\/p>\n

Residents have been able to submit complaint forms<\/a> about problem short-term rentals through a Houston 311 webpage, and they say they hope that when enforcement begins next month they\u2019ll get more prompt and thorough responses. Some have resorted to calling their constable\u2019s office or reaching out directly to the landlord.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting January 1, a 24-hour complaint hotline will be available for public reporting. Complaints will be routed to the appropriate city departments for investigation and further monitoring and enforcement action, Paez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Debra Oliver, a North Montrose resident for 17 years, said her neighborhood has been overrun with multifamily and single-family short-term rentals since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The neighborhood has deed restrictions prohibiting renting space like boarding houses or hotels, but there\u2019s no homeowners association to enforce it, Oliver said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a shit show that\u2019s been allowed to get way too big, and now we have an infestation,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople say, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just sell your house and move?\u2019 I was like, who is going to buy my house when it\u2019s next to an Airbnb? I have to disclose that. I am a very liberal and very accepting and tolerant person but this has been nothing but abuse. I lost five years of my life because of that Airbnb next door. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oliver said while the home next door to her was operating as a short-term rental, she witnessed what she believed to be illegal drug use and prostitution but it\u2019s difficult to prove what\u2019s happening on someone else\u2019s private property, and typically, by the time police respond, the activity has ceased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was out of control,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The home in question currently has a long-term tenant with a multi-year lease who hasn\u2019t caused any problems, but Oliver said she\u2019s not resting easy because it can revert back to a short-term rental when the lease is up \u2014 and there are several other party houses in the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two properties on either side of me that are on the market,\u201d she said. \u201cI basically live in the constant dread of what\u2019s going to happen. I\u2019m always under the veil of, when is my life going to go back to not being normal again?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ordinance, Oliver said, is clunky and lacks teeth. For example, it states that the city can remove all short-term rentals from booking sites for a particular owner or operator if at least three of their registrations have already been revoked in a two-year period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The language is confusing, Oliver said, and there\u2019s nothing to prevent the problem rental from getting back on the platform once it comes into compliance. And removal from a booking site doesn\u2019t mean property owners can\u2019t rent out their spaces through other means. Many use word of mouth or social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Violations are punishable by fines of up to $500 for each citation. Each day any violation continues will be punishable by a separate fine.<\/p>\n

A Heights resident who asked not to be identified sobbed into the phone last week as she told the Press of scary and potentially dangerous daily occurrences in her neighborhood due to the influx of short-term renters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ordinance is a little soft,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m curious to see what enforcement looks like. I feel like we\u2019re still going to heavily rely on our constable. It\u2019s every day. It\u2019s happening today. I hope they take their license away and then, ideally, the next time I call, they\u2019re toast.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many neighbors say they are uncomfortable speaking at city council meetings, photographing what they perceive to be illegal activity or getting involved at all because they don\u2019t want to be retaliated against by tenants or property owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What Happens to the Good Guys?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Short-term rentals have presented challenges in cities across Texas and the United States. Some cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth, have created a zoning designation that requires rental properties to be in hotel districts. Legal challenges<\/a> abound as short-term rental operators say the city can\u2019t tell them what to do with a property they own and pay taxes on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Houston, the largest U.S. city that does not have traditional comprehensive zoning laws, has opted to deal with the matter through fees, restrictions, and soon, enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Short Term Rental Association<\/a> formed in October and created chapters in Austin, El Paso and Houston<\/a>. The goal of the Houston group is to advance fair rules, promote responsible hosting, and ensure Houston remains welcoming to travelers and residents, said Lisa Sievers, a longtime Airbnb operator in Dallas and secretary of the association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 2023 study by Tourism Economics<\/a> found that Texas short-term rentals generated $14.3 billion in business sales, supported more than 83,000 jobs, and contributed $1.2 billion in state and local tax revenue across the state.<\/p>\n

Long, who serves as president of the Texas Short-Term Rental Alliance, says even though he\u2019s followed all the rules and advocated for a sensible ordinance that doesn\u2019t punish the good guys, there are still challenges ahead. He\u2019s hosted a few gatherings recently to ensure that other operators know how they can stay in compliance and hold the city accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Short-Term Rental Alliance encourages fair and consistent regulation and encourages lawful compliance from its members. Long said he also shares his \u201cjungle wisdom,\u201d or best practices, with hosts, guests and neighbors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Long pushed for trafficking awareness training to be required for operators, and that\u2019s included in the ordinance. Other measures he suggested, such as noise monitoring devices and air quality sensors that will alert a property owner if the air conditioner is broken or a guest is smoking a cigarette or a marijuana joint on site, were not included, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The noise monitoring devices cost about $100 and notify the property owner and the guest when decibel levels reach a certain threshold, which is lower during the overnight hours. Usually when Long gets a notification of a noise trigger, it\u2019s \u201can older person who has maybe fallen asleep in front of the TV,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe No. 1 value for us has been peace of mind because we know that our guests are quiet and we have the data to prove it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Long also asked for HPD to remove tenants for trespassing if they\u2019re on property past the date of their stay. It\u2019s something that is done at hotels, he said, but it\u2019s not included in the short-term rental ordinance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think this is a civil matter, which is incorrect,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not about public safety whatsoever. It\u2019s just not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a previous interview<\/a> with the Press in August, Administration and Regulatory Affairs Chief of Staff Billy Rudolph acknowledged that a registration database won\u2019t stop people from having parties, but it will provide Code Enforcement and Houston police officers emergency contact information and create accountability for the owners and operators who don\u2019t want to pay fines or get shut down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to see enforcement be more effective,\u201d Rudolph said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s an across-the-board solution. We\u2019re probably still going to run into issues that we can\u2019t anticipate right now, and I think revisiting the ordinance to address any issues that come up is a possibility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jason Ginsburg, a real estate attorney and founder of Houstonians Against Airbnb, said he and his neighbors intend to stay vigilant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a nuisance Airbnb on our block or if there are several, it\u2019s not just going to be one report to 311,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just going to be one call to HPD. It\u2019s going to be a dozen calls and a dozen reports every single time there\u2019s a disturbance until the message gets through that we\u2019re not going to tolerate parties in that kind of atmosphere when our children are trying to sleep and we\u2019re just trying to live our lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oliver said the city should not bother chasing fees and licenses from operators who live on site and rent out a single room in their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporations that own multiple properties are not the same as mom and pop renting a room out in their house to make ends meet,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we should take care of the little person and slam dunk the corporations that are raping neighborhoods. I feel very strongly about that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbors who live near party houses are quick to point out that Airbnb has a ton of money, a multibillion-dollar industry and a seat at the table during negotiations with the city council, but Long says it\u2019s a false narrative to pit \u201cangry neighbors\u201d against all short-term rental operators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not opposed to regulations or getting rid of party houses,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want the right to be able to have short-term rentals and to run them without interference from politicians or neighbors, assuming that we do things in a manner that doesn\u2019t disturb other people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Helen and Van Arnold operate several long-term rentals in southwest Houston and say they don\u2019t want to go through the city\u2019s registration process, even though they got a letter telling them they had to. Credit: Van Arnold<\/p>\n

Long and members of the Houston Short-Term Rental Association also intend to stay vigilant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something we\u2019re going to back down on,\u201d Long said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be bullied on this. This is our livelihood for our families. It\u2019s not a hobby. Our families depend on it and our employees depend on it. This is not something to be taken lightly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And although Van Arnold may have had a somewhat flippant response to the letter he got in the mail strongly suggesting that he register his rental properties, he takes it seriously too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arnold\u2019s grandfather built a private school in the Willow Meadows\/Willowbend neighborhood in southwest Houston in 1954. Arnold and his wife now own a whole block and live there among the rental properties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an RV park across Main Street from me and they\u2019re all medical patients with RVs,\u201d he said. \u201cI decided to rent homes to medical patients. It went gangbusters for years, but it\u2019s been kind of slow in the last few years, probably because a lot of people are doing it these days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a full-time job for Arnold, who maintains the homes, and his wife, who keeps them clean. They say they don\u2019t like the hassle of short-term rentals so they require at least 60-day stays, and always have. They only accept medical patients and they\u2019ve never had a problem with people having parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my homes are gated and they\u2019re very secure,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have a yard, so they bring their pets. They\u2019re so comfortable when they get here, as comfortable as they can be under the circumstances.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s concerned that Airbnb will pull his listing if he doesn\u2019t pay the fees, and he already just paid $92,000 in property taxes for all his rental homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not huge money I\u2019m making,\u201d he said. \u201cI charge $3,550 a month, which is what I was charging 10 years ago.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The letter Arnold received states: \u201cPursuant to Ordinance No. 2025-322, a Short-Term Rental is defined as \u2018a dwelling unit or any portion of a dwelling unit that is rented out for a period of less than 30 consecutive days.\u2019 On January 1, 2026, each property operating as an STR must have a valid City of Houston Certificate of Registration to continue operating as a Short-Term Rental or the owner\/operator will be in violation of the city\u2019s STR ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number is listed at the bottom of the letter for recipients to call if they believe the message was received in error. Arnold said he hadn\u2019t called it.<\/p>\n

Rudolph told the Press that Arnold won\u2019t have to register or pay the fee as long as he\u2019s not operating a short-term rental, as defined in the ordinance adopted<\/a> by the city council in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it doesn\u2019t seem likely, based on what the Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department told the Press, that the Arnolds will be required to register or pay fees, the situation does shine a spotlight on potential inefficiencies for an ordinance that hasn\u2019t even been enforced yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to have to catch me renting for less than 30 days and I don\u2019t do that,\u201d Arnold said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article appears in Jan 1 \u2013 Dec 31, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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