Last night, due to a lawsuit by the Beacon Center against the city of Nashville, the Metro Council voted to repeal its unconstitutional restrictions on homeowners’ use of signs related to short-term rental properties (STRPs). Under existing law, homeowners cannot so much as put a four-inch sticker in their window indicating that their home is available on the popular short-term rental site .

Beacon challenged Metro’s STRP ordinance in court on behalf of two Nashville homeowners due to its unconstitutionality, recently securing an injunction against the city’s enforcement of the signage ban and another provision that would allow the police to seize guest logs of homeowners without a warrant. With last night’s vote (as well as a previous vote to scrap the invasive police search of records), the Metro Council has recognized and acted upon Beacon’s victory on these grounds in court.

“The Metro Council should be applauded for taking a step in the right direction on how it treats homeowners,” said Beacon CEO Justin Owen. “However, as our pending lawsuit shows, there are still glaring problems with how Metro regulates services like .”

“While many have been looking at unfair and ineffective regulations to solve some of the problems has had in Nashville, the Beacon Center has proposed a list of solutions that will protect the property rights and economic liberty of Nashville homeowners while preserving the character of our city’s neighborhoods and protecting consumers,” said Owen.

The Beacon Center of Tennessee empowers Tennesseans to reclaim control of their lives, so that they can freely pursue their version of the American Dream. The Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and independent organization dedicated to providing concerned citizens and public leaders with expert empirical research and timely free market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee.