Dallas Rental Owners are Latest to Challenge Restrictions Aimed at Airbnb, VRBO Hosts

Despite a flurry of lawsuits in recent years challenging municipal restrictions on short-term rentals, the Texas Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the legality of the bans. But a new lawsuit brought by rental owners in Dallas — which argues in part that the recently-passed “Death Star Act” preempts the local bans — may offer the high court an opportunity to provide guidance.

The Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance, represented by Michael Hurst, David Coale and Michele Naudin of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, sued Dallas earlier this month alleging the city’s ban on most short-term rentals violates the state constitution “and other state laws against government overreach.” The lawsuit specifically points to HB 2127, known as the Death Star Act, which preempts municipal ordinances “on matters occupied by a provision of the property code” and alleges Dallas’ ban violates the law that went into effect Sept. 1.