Update on Short Term Rentals
Posted on May 26th, 2022
We received a ton of feedback and questions from the Community after we posted the ruling from 56th District Court Judge Lonnie Cox supporting the PPOA’s ability to enforce the Pirates Cove Short Term Rental Deed Restriction Amendments.
Because we received so many different questions, I thought it was important to send this update to the Community. The three most frequent questions were:
- Are short term rentals allowed at Pirates Beach and Pirates Beach West? Answer is yes.
- Does this STR ruling apply to all Pirates Cove Sections? Yes, except for Pirates Cove Section 7 - The Enclave.
- Does this ruling apply to Laffites Cove and the Enclave? No, they were not a party to the lawsuit. However, they have their own deed restriction amendments (completed several years earlier) limiting short term rentals to no less than 90 consecutive days.
To sort out this short term rental situation between all of the PPOA Sections, we have created a list of PPOA Sections that allow Short Term Rentals (STR) and those that don’t allow Short Term Rentals. Please
click on this link to see the status for all PPOA Sections.
Several questions from property owners asked, “What happened?” For those that are new to the Community here is the history lesson.
In 2015, Laffites Cove property owners passed a Deed Restriction Amendment limiting short term rentals to no less than 90 consecutive days. A few years later, the Villas property owners approved the same amendment for their Section.
In 2020, property owners in several Pirates Cove Sections desired to amend their deed restrictions as well. These Pirates Cove Sections were:
- Pirates Cove Sections 1 & 2
- Pirates Cove Section 3, 4, and 5
Several property owners in these sections created a deed restriction amendment limiting short term rentals and were successful in convincing a majority of the property owners in their respective Sections to approve the Amendment. The Amendments that limited short term rentals to no less than 90 consecutive days was filed at the Galveston County Courthouse and presented to the PPOA to begin enforcement of the new Deed Restriction amendments. The PPOA enforcement activity was soon challenged by 5 Pirates Cove property owners that wanted to continue their rental activities. A lawsuit was filed by these 5 plaintiffs against the PPOA to prevent the PPOA from enforcing the new STR Amendments. The PPOA’s D&O Insurance policy provided legal counsel and ultimately obtained a ruling from the 56th Galveston County District Court in favor of the PPOA on May 16, 2022. At this point, all short term rentals in the applicable Pirates Cove Sections should cease.
Over the last few days, we have received numerous reports that not all renting property owners in the subject Pirates Cove Sections have stopped renting. The Court is aware of this fact.
An appeal by the Plaintiffs is possible and further details will be made available as they occur.
I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please click "CONTACT US" to send a message to the PPOA.
Thanks,
Lee Slataper, President
Pirates Property Owners Association
