OCEAN CITY, Md. - The Ocean City Council is considering an exception to newly adopted short-term rental regulations in residential areas, specifically for multifamily structures that were built before the current zoning restrictions.
New ordinances adopted by the Ocean City Council place stricter limits on short-term rentals in residential areas and mobile homes. These include an occupancy cap of two people per bedroom and a five-night minimum stay. That minimum stay requirement would jump to 31 nights beginning in 2027 — a change that will be challenged by a referendum later this year.
Meanwhile, town officials are considering loosening restrictions on certain multifamily homes located in those same neighborhoods — a move that has sparked mixed reactions.
“We don’t want to take away their ability as a multifamily property, if they were legally permitted, in order to rent,” said Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan. “We do not feel that they should be part of that ordinance. They are multifamily structures. So what we’re doing is we’re working on a way to carve them out of that ordinance.”
Multifamily structures — which include duplexes and condos — are currently no longer permitted to be newly constructed in residential areas. However, many such buildings already exist in residential areas, and officials say they plan to allow those to remain and operate under different rules than single-family homes.
According to the council, the recently passed ordinances were intended specifically for single-family homes, not multifamily buildings.
Still, the idea of creating separate standards has drawn criticism from some in the community. “You're literally going to have places that are surrounded by people that can rent, but they can't,” said Ocean City realtor Terry Miller. “So it doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”
Next steps include compiling a comprehensive list of all existing multifamily structures located in residential areas. Once that process is complete, the council will decide how best to proceed with regulating those properties.