So it looks like Jamaica’s government will HAVE TO regulate the short-term rental industry.

We’ve been talking about the government possibly regulating the short-term rental space for a few weeks now.  Most of you have some strong opinions about it. Mostly that the Government should stay outta unu business when it comes to short-term rentals.

But, it’s starting to look like the Government will have to step in and put some rules in place, whether we like it or not.

Recently, the Supreme Court banned short-term rentals in a gated community in St Andrew called College Common. The residents of the community took their neighbour to court because they said the tenants that stayed in his short-term rental, always caused some kind a problem.

So there was some back and forth between the community and the property owner until the matter eventually got to the Supreme Court.

In October, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the community,  banning short-term rentals in that particular gated community, based on the restrictive covenant.

Restrictive covenants outline what property owners can and can not do on the property.  Once the property owners sign the covenant, they are agreeing to abide by the rules of the community.

Now, this community’s covenant specifies that properties should only be used for residential purposes. And since short-term rentals are considered businesses, that means the property was being used for commercial purposes and was in breach of the community’s rules.

However, as Vice President of the Realtors Association of Jamaica, Gabrielle Grant Gilpin-Hudson noted, this ruling is just a temporary solution. 

Short-term rentals brought in over US$100 million to Jamaica’s economy last year. So as that number grows there will need to be some standardised framework to guide the industry.

But there’s always a worry that when the Government steps in, the little man will get stepped on.

But the consensus is that there needs to be some framework to guide the sector. So that these disputes don’t continuously end up in Court… and that’s the bottom line.