The case of Johnson v. Pocono Twp. Zoning Hearing Bd. & Pocono Twp., 1048 C.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Feb 07, 2024) addressed several key legal principles related to Pennsylvania short–term rental (colloquy “Airbnb”) zoning ordinances and property rights. This Pennsylvania Common Pleas Appeals Court case did two important things: First, it weighed in on an important question by deciding that a township’s zoning ordinance prohibiting...
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Happy New Year! Along with our collective resolutions have come the imposition of new regulations from the City of Philadelphia. On January 1st, 2023, Philadelphia rolled out a new set of regulations for Airbnb and short-term rental properties. While these should not come as a surprise to anyone since the City has been delaying the start of these for some time now, Airbnb has now...
Read MoreBy January 1, 2023, Airbnb and all other short term rental sites will require all Philadelphia hosts to comply with new legislation or their listings will be removed from the platforms. This “crack-down” was set to start in July of 2022, but has since been postponed. An average rental license will no longer be enough to support a listing on a short-term hosting platform. Short-term...
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Last week, I received phone calls from two clients, both of them in a panic. You see, in the last 7 years I had both assisted them with obtaining a lease and also assisted them with receiving zoning approvals for their spaces in Viking Mill in Kensington, a near 70,000 square foot building located at 2019-2053 E. Boston Street. I do not think it is...
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One topic I get at least one call about per week is the accessory dwelling unit. While it’s a cool idea and awesome when it works, it’s a rare circumstance when it does, and they are not the backdoor to getting that duplex that you’ve been desperately searching for. Accessory Dwelling Units, or “ADU”s in zoning nerd speak, historically called granny flats or backyard cottages, are...
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Understanding and figuring out the zoning of a property can be one of the most elusive feats, especially if you don't know where to look. There are free tools you can utilize to try to decipher the legal use, but it is usually unclear. There can be dozens and even hundreds of documents in the city's zoning archive, incomplete paper trails, and a slew of other...
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