New Orleans Short-Term Rental Rules Barring Businesses Axed

Some of New Orleans’ licensing and advertising rule requirements that prevent businesses from operating short-term rental properties in the city were struck down Tuesday by the Fifth Circuit as unconstitutional.

The city’s ban on business entities obtaining short-term rental permits “is too attenuated to any legitimate state interest to be considered anything other than ‘arbitrary or irrational,’” and the advertising regulations run afoul of the First Amendment, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in a partial reversal.

Under New Orleans’ regulations for properties offered for fewer than 30 days, homeowners and property supervisors must obtain ...