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South Portland short-term rental owners say new regulations 'not fair'

"I'm being thrown out like bathwater," said one homeowner of 34 years.

SOUTH PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) - Complaints of noisy neighbors, packed parking, and testy tourists have led to the strictest short-term rental regulations in Maine to date.

Finding a beach rental in South Portland for you and a group of friends will be nearly impossible with these new regulations.

“Non-owner-occupied [short-term rentals] are a problem,” one South Portland resident said at the microphone at a February 20th city council meeting.

The South Portland city council agreed in a 6-1 vote to implement strict short-term rental restrictions.

It's a decisive vote that John Murphy, a Willard Street resident of 34 years, says will take away his livelihood. “We've been painted as villains. We've been painted as carpetbaggers, and people coming into the scourge of the neighborhood,” he said. “And that couldn't be further from the truth.”

He has rented half of his two-family home to tourists for 34 years.

Now - he'll only be able to rent one of the house’s three bedrooms. The new regulations say owner-occupied rentals can be for one bedroom with a maximum guest list of two adults and one baby. “Who goes on vacation like that?” Murphy said. “It’s not fair.”

Other homeowners won't be able to rent at all.

“Hosted short-term home rentals” are allowed all over the entire city. What that means is that the homeowner has to rent out his or her primary residence, and they have to be home while the renters are there.

“Non-hosted short-term rentals” are now banned in all residential zones of the city.

The green/gray areas highlight the city's residential zones.

Weddings, reunions, conferences, and large parties are also banned from rentals.

There was only one councilor who voted against the measure, first-term councilor Adrian Dowling. “I feel that there are a lot of good folks who are being lumped in with the bad apples, and I wish the process could have taken them more into account,” he said.

Dowling said good apples like John Murphy aren't sure they'll be able to afford their property on the ocean without rental income. “I'm being thrown out with the bathwater,” Murphy sighed. “It's not right. It's not right.”

Murphy fears for his future - and what could happen if this trend continues up Maine's coast. “People who aren't of extreme wealth are being forced out of their homes because they can't afford to live there.”

City councilor Eben Rose says short-term rentals in these residential zones were technically never allowed, but now this new law explicitly prohibits them.

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