The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to take up Dallas's years-long fight over short-term rentals, setting the stage for oral arguments on whether the temporary injunction blocking the ordinance should remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds. The case pits the City of Dallas against the Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance and a group of individual hosts who have repeatedly blocked enforcement in lower courts.
The high court granted review of the case on Oct. 23, according to orders published by the Supreme Court of Texas, which listed the petition as City of Dallas v. Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance, Sammy Aflalo, Vera Elkins, Danielle Lindsey and Denise Lowry. Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3, at 9 a.m., with the City of Dallas and the alliance each allotted 20 minutes to make their case, as reported by D Magazine.
The dispute dates back to what D Magazine describes as the years-long battle between the city and the alliance over regulations restricting short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods. The outlet notes that rental hosts have sued the city and have continued to win temporary injunctions, keeping their properties operating even as Dallas has pushed to put its rules into effect.
What the City Wants Out of the Hearing
City officials are hoping the Supreme Court proceeding clears a path toward enforcement of ordinances that have been tied up in litigation since they passed. As the same report put it, the City of Dallas wants to pave the way for their ordinances against short-term rentals to finally be enforced. On the other side, the alliance has said it is seeking what it calls a reasonable ordinance that represents the interests of our membership as well as the neighborhoods in which we live, per the same account.
At the center of the fight is Dallas ordinance, passed by the City Council in 2023. The ordinance defines a short-term rental as a full or partial rentable unit rented to occupants for fewer than 30 consecutive days per rental period, and violators face a fine not to exceed $2,000.
Where the Rules Apply
The rules do not amount to a blanket ban citywide — the ordinance permits short-term rental lodging by right in several multifamily, central area, mixed-use, multiple commercial and urban corridor districts. It does, however, prohibit short-term rental lodging in multifamily structures that received a density bonus under city code.
Dallas is not alone in wrestling with this issue. Fort Worth has been fighting its own short-term rental battle after passing similar regulations in 2023, according to a report from KERA. Plano took a different approach, with its City Council banning short-term rentals in most residential areas in 2024 and requiring hosts to register with the city and pay a fee, the station reported.
For now, the core question before the court is whether the temporary injunction blocking Dallas's ordinance should remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds, with hosts continuing to operate under the injunctions they have won in lower courts. That question is now squarely in front of the state's highest civil court, with both sides set to make their case in just over five weeks.
