Hilton Head leaders change course on rentals after ‘massive threats of lawsuits’
Just over 72 hours after passing a rule urging short-term rentals on Hilton Head Island to close for two months during the coronavirus outbreak, Hilton Head Island leaders have done an about-face.
Hilton Head Island Town Council voted six to one Friday to repeal their Tuesday decision and instead fall in line with S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s April 3 emergency order that only prohibits rentals to those coming from CDC-identified coronavirus hotspots.
“We will not infringe on neighbors’ civil rights,” Mayor John McCann said Friday during an emergency meeting. “Legal counsel has advised us of the law,” he said, and suggested repealing the limits on rentals due to “lack of enforcement and new information.”
The town, which is already obligated to follow McMaster’s emergency order, now effectively has few rules governing short-term rentals, although most rental companies have agreed not to take new reservations through the end of April.
But what McCann called “new information,” at least one council member called “threats.”
Member Tamara Becker said the last three days have been filled with “massive threats of lawsuits against the town.”
“This group has joined together and asked their chamber to go to bat for them,” she said, suggesting that at least some pressure to appeal the earlier ruling came from the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. “That influence won.”
She did not say which individual renters or rental companies were involved in those threats. Becker’s was the lone vote against repealing the limits.
The chamber responded to Becker’s comments late Friday afternoon.
“The chamber has not had discussions with the town threatening litigation,” chamber president and CEO Bill Miles said. “Home and villa companies and others have expressed their concerns related to the unconstitutionality of the April 7th ordinance, as the S.C. attorney general’s opinion stated. We recommended they reach out to their Hilton Head Island Town Council members to express those concerns.”
The short-term rental ordinance adopted Tuesday did not ban or prohibit all rentals. Council member Glenn Stanford, who wrote the ordinance, used softer language to avoid stepping over the governor’s order.
His ordinance read:
- As of 12:01 a.m. on April 8, 2020, owners of short-term rental accommodations and their property managers, if any, are directed to cease and desist any rental that commences after this date and time and must refrain from such activity for the duration of this emergency ordinance.
- As of 12:01 a.m. on April 8, 2020, no person shall check in or begin their occupancy of any rental commencing after this date and time and must refrain from such activity for the duration of this emergency ordinance.
- Any person already occupying a rental unit prior to 12:01 a.m. on April 8, 2020, is exempted from this emergency ordinance.
- The restrictions outlined above go into effect at 12:01 a.m., April 8, 2020 and will be in effect for 61 days or until the State of Emergency has been rescinded, whichever comes first.
Surprisingly, Stanford flipped and voted to repeal his own ordinance Friday. He said the “power to execute such (an ordinance) is reserved to the state. He said it was regrettable that he had to vote to repeal.
But Friday’s change sends another mixed message from the town council about its response to the pandemic.
Stanford’s ordinance was not originally on the council’s Tuesday agenda, which Mayor McCann writes and approves prior to each meeting. Instead, council members voted to add the rental ordinance to the agenda and then passed it.
The rule delighted many island residents who do not own short term rental properties — many of whom have strongly encouraged the council to do all it can to stop all tourism to the island.
However, the ordinance created tension between council and short-term rental owners. Council members were flooded this week with emails from those owners, who said the rule would cost them income.
The new ordinance, though, reads more like a direct response to owners’ concerns.
“Town Council acknowledges and commends these community minded organizations and individuals for their commitment to the health and well being of Hilton Head Island and its residents and guests, at great cost and sacrifice to themselves and their employees,” the new ordinance says.
Becker called the new ordinance something else.
“When I read this ordinance I see a lot of PR for the rental agencies,” she said. “We don’t need to tell everybody how wonderful they were when they just spent the last three days threatening to sue the town.”
Following Friday afternoon’s vote, short term rentals are free to operate this weekend as long as those occupying the properties
are not from a CDC-identified hotspot.
Hotspots with domestic travel advisories currently include New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 6:06 PM.
