OCEAN CITY, Md. — Property owners in Ocean City’s residential neighborhoods and mobile home communities will once again be able to obtain short-term rental licenses after the Ocean City Council voted unanimously to rescind its rental moratorium.
The decision came Tuesday night after town officials announced that a petition seeking a referendum on the moratorium had gathered more than enough valid signatures to move forward.
Realtor John Magathan said his clients were relieved by the council’s decision.
“They were very concerned about the status of being able to rent moving forward. But this is definitely going to be a sigh of relief,” Magathan said.
Ocean City Manager Terry McGean said the council does not plan to introduce new rental restrictions at this time.
“Right now their feeling is, let’s strictly enforce what’s on the books. And hope that everything works out. That we don’t see a recurrence of some of the problems that I think some saw in the R-1, in the MH communities in the past,” McGean said.
Terry Miller and her team, who submitted the petition, told CoastTV they were pleased with Tuesday’s outcome and hope the mayor and council will leave rental regulations unchanged. However, Magathan believes the issue could resurface.