Wednesday
September 18, 2024 
Lower Makefield plans to tighten requirements for township residents who want to rent out their homes to short-term visitors.
The supervisors have advertised changes to the township code regulating short-term lodging in a 27-page ordinance and will vote on its approval at their Aug. 7 meeting, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Among the revisions outlined are that a residence used as a short-term rental must be licensed and undergo regular inspections.
Yardley Borough Council also is considering enacting a short-term rental ordinance but first is studying those enacted by other municipalities.
Lower Makefield noted its regulations need to be revised because it has seen “a greater incidence of disturbances and violations of various codes of the township which adversely affect the peace and quiet of the neighborhood” near residences where owners have “unregulated transient visitors.”
If adopted, the new revisions will require an owner to live at the residence at least eight months a year and to have adequate liability insurance. A renter for the whole house must rent it for at least seven days but no more than 30 days. A home cannot be rented for more than 120 days a year.
Board Chairman John Lewis said the new regulations will also require the owner to provide the name, address, a 24-hour phone number and email for the person in charge of the rental. That person must be available around the clock if needed and be located within 25 miles of the property.
The homeowner must submit to the township a parking plan showing at least one paved, off-street parking spot per bedroom available for short-term rental. An annual log of renters also must be kept by the owner.
“We have received several requests from residents over the past six months to strengthen the ordinance to protect against a few property owners aggressively avoiding compliance with the spirit and letter of the (current) ordinance,” Lewis said in an email explaining the need for the revisions.
Township officials say there are currently 10 registered short-term lodging properties in Lower Makefield that would fall under the proposed ordinance.
Property owners that do not comply with the regulations can be subject to summary offenses, fines and court costs.
A complete list of revisions to the ordinance can be viewed on the township Facebook page.
The supervisors’ meeting will be held in the township administration building at 1100 Edgewood Road.
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