The Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin has issued an important decision validating short-term rentals in a case I briefed and argued both at trial and on appeal. To summarize briefly, if restrictive covenants do not define "residential use" to limit leasing based on duration, then the restrictive covenants will be interpreted to favor the free and open use of property. Thus, the court will not write into the restrictive covenants any minimum duration for rentals. The case is Zgabay v. NBRC Property Owners Assoc., No. 03-14-00660 (Tex. App. — Austin August 28, 2015). This will be, for the time being, the leading case authority on this issue in Texas. However, I have other cases percolating in other appellate districts, and I expect one or more of these to go up on appeal in the coming months.