Kansas City short-term rental fight continues in front of zoning board

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The legal fight for short-term rentals in Kansas City, Missouri, continued in front of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday.

A group of property owners and hosts have a multitude of problems with the city’s process of approval, but at the core they say is fairness.

“Was there any rational basis to do this?” said Megan Duma, the group’s short-term rental attorney.

She believes the city was wrong in how it approved certain short-term rental permits for a few people while denying others.

“What I’ve seen so far, it’s completely arbitrary, completely capricious and it’s just more about the policy of we don’t want short term rentals,” Duma said. “If you take those rights away you have to do so in accordance with law and that’s all we’re asking.”

The group Duma represents is asking the city to reverse their denials for a permit, but the the board pushed back making its decision to October.

That’s a problem for Airbnb property owners and managers like Tyler Shirk who say they have a Sept. 15 deadline before the Airbnb unlists all unpermitted properties.

“And now they’re being told, ‘We can’t hear it, we have to wait until October,” Shirk said. “Well Sept. 15, Airbnb is going to de-list every single Airbnb that doesn’t have a permit.”

The board will reconvene in October to make its decision whether or not to reverse the permit denials.

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