Arlington Approves Expanding Accessory Homestays to Renters

• January 30th 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

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On Saturday, a month after the “accessory homestay” zoning designation was created, the Arlington County Board unanimously approved expanding this designation and its privileges to renters. The accessory homestay is a home occupation designation that permits short-term rentals of fewer than 30 days.

This vote will amend the language of the new bill from “owner” to “resident”, allowing renters to apply with the county to list their primary residences on sites like Airbnb. In addition, limitations on the number of contracts per night would be removed to allow hosts to carry on simultaneous rental contracts.

Any leases, condo board regulations or other legal documents that forbid short-term sublets would still be applicable and supersede the county’s accessory homestay allowance.

As of January 25th, all 34 homestays that were applied for in the county have been approved; 22 of those were for single-family detached dwellings and seven were units in multi-family buildings. While it is currently free to register, a fee for accessory homestays will likely be implemented in July.

“One of the reasons this change is not only a good one as a matter of policy but it reflects that we heard from renters in our community, who make up a significant percent of our community but whose voices are not always heard in our land use or zoning ordinance determinations,” Vice-Chair Katie Cristol commented at the hearing.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/arlington_county_board_approves_expanding_accessory_homestays_to_renters/12098.