Courts split on whether short term rentals are a nonresidential use

With continued disagreement among courts in the U.S., the Kentucky Supreme Court has weighed in on the side of finding short term rentals of property to be more like hotels than home ownership or residential leasing and so does not qualify as a "residential" use prohibited by a covenant that prohibits nonresidential uses of the land.. Hensley v. Gadd, 560 S.W.3d 516 (Ky. 2018).

In contrast, the Arkansas Supreme Court rules that short-term rentals in a residential subdivisin die not violate a restrictive covenant that prohibited commercial uses. Vera Lee Angel Revocable Tr. v. Jim O'Bryant & Kay O'Bryant Joint Revocable Tr., 537 S.W.3d 254 (Ark. 2018).