My client, Ken Tarr, has now prevailed in a case that protects Texas property owners statewide. On May 25, 2018, the Texas Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Brown, held that short-term rentals are not barred by the widespread, typical "residential use only" deed restriction. Even more importantly, the case announces a rule that restrictions cannot be interpreted into existence where silence reigns. Wow! We can now say with some confidence that what is not expressly forbidden by deed restrictions is allowed. Seems like a no-brainer, but it's been a long time coming — I've been litigating short-term rental cases for 9 years, pushing them forward across the state in hopes of getting one up to the Supreme Court.

"Residential use only" is the commonest deed restriction and zoning ordinance and goes back over 100 years. Opponents of short-term rentals insist that short-duration leases constitute the operation of a business at a home, a logically untenable position for any number of reasons — not the least of which is that the tenants are not doing anything different on day 31 than they were doing on day 29. The Texas Supreme Court, joining at least 19 other states, rejected the business-use argument in a lengthy, carefully-reasoned, and logically unassailable opinion. The new decision is sufficiently exhaustive that it seems destined to become the leading state supreme court opinion in this area of the law.