People walk in the Wellington neighborhood of Breckenridge in this March 12, 2009 file photo. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
A group of short-term rental hosts has sued the Town of Breckenridge in the latest legal battle between mountain town homeowners in Colorado and their governments.
Colorado Property Owners for Property Rights, a nonprofit group, sued the town Tuesday in a Breckenridge court. It is asking a judge there to invalidate two town ordinances.
“We believe that the town’s short-term rental ordinances violate Colorado law that expressly prohibits local governments from imposing rent controls,” said Mary Waldman, a property manager and president of the nonprofit group, which abbreviates itself COPR.
In recent years, several progressive towns and counties in Colorado have placed fees and limits on short-term rentals in an attempt to alleviate deficits of long-term housing. Summit County, Estes Park and now Breckenridge have been sued this year as a result. In Denver, a former short-term rental host is suing the city because his renewal was denied.
In the Breckenridge case, COPR takes issue with ordinances passed in 2021 and 2022 that capped the total number of short-term rentals in town to 2,200, split the town into four zones with caps for each zone, and made short-term rental licenses non-transferable.
“Although the ordinances have the laudable purpose of increasing the supply and affordability of workforce housing within the town, the ordinances nevertheless violate the plain language of Colorado’s statutory prohibition of rent control,” this week’s lawsuit states.
Under state law, cities and towns cannot implement rent control policies. COPR said that Breckenridge is doing so through short-term rental regulations, since the town’s goal is to increase the supply of long-term housing, which in turn could decrease rent prices.
A spokeswoman for the Town of Breckenridge declined to comment on the litigation.
Attorneys Jordan May and Ryan Horace with Frascona Joiner Goodman and Greenstein in Boulder, along with Arvada lawyer Timothy Knapp, represent COPR.
People walk in the Wellington neighborhood of Breckenridge in this March 12, 2009 file photo. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
A group of short-term rental hosts has sued the Town of Breckenridge in the latest legal battle between mountain town homeowners in Colorado and their governments.
Colorado Property Owners for Property Rights, a nonprofit group, sued the town Tuesday in a Breckenridge court. It is asking a judge there to invalidate two town ordinances.
“We believe that the town’s short-term rental ordinances violate Colorado law that expressly prohibits local governments from imposing rent controls,” said Mary Waldman, a property manager and president of the nonprofit group, which abbreviates itself COPR.
In recent years, several progressive towns and counties in Colorado have placed fees and limits on short-term rentals in an attempt to alleviate deficits of long-term housing. Summit County, Estes Park and now Breckenridge have been sued this year as a result. In Denver, a former short-term rental host is suing the city because his renewal was denied.
In the Breckenridge case, COPR takes issue with ordinances passed in 2021 and 2022 that capped the total number of short-term rentals in town to 2,200, split the town into four zones with caps for each zone, and made short-term rental licenses non-transferable.
“Although the ordinances have the laudable purpose of increasing the supply and affordability of workforce housing within the town, the ordinances nevertheless violate the plain language of Colorado’s statutory prohibition of rent control,” this week’s lawsuit states.
Under state law, cities and towns cannot implement rent control policies. COPR said that Breckenridge is doing so through short-term rental regulations, since the town’s goal is to increase the supply of long-term housing, which in turn could decrease rent prices.
A spokeswoman for the Town of Breckenridge declined to comment on the litigation.
Attorneys Jordan May and Ryan Horace with Frascona Joiner Goodman and Greenstein in Boulder, along with Arvada lawyer Timothy Knapp, represent COPR.
