Kitty Hawk, NC short-term rental limits

What Kitty Hawk asks of you

• Ten zoning districts, among them BR-1 and VR-1, hold each detached house to septic capacity serving 14 overnight occupants at most.^[5]

• The same districts bar any detached house above 6,000 square feet of conditioned living space.^[5]

• A detached house needs one parking space for every two occupants its septic permit allows, or one per 600 square feet of heated space. The lower figure applies, with two spaces at least.^[6]

• The town lists Ordinance 25-04, on parallel parking, as in effect but not yet codified. Its online code runs through November 2024.^[7]

• Homes rented by the day or week keep at least two garbage cans on site. The public works director sets a higher number when two fall short.^[8]

• Each rented dwelling must post the town's notice on swimming bans during red-flag conditions. A missing notice can draw a civil penalty of $50 per day.^[9]

• Zoning violations cost $100 a day for ten days after a citation is ignored. Past that point, the penalty climbs to $500 a day.^[10]

What North Carolina asks wherever you host

These rules apply at this address whatever the city decides.

• Under G.S. 160D-1207(c), no North Carolina city can make registration a condition of renting your property. Demanding a housing-code permit before you rent is barred as well. The Court of Appeals applied that rule in Schroeder v. City of Wilmington.^[1]

• Zoning is what remains. In that case the court let a city keep whole-house lodging inside named districts. Parking rules survived too, as did limits on large events. So did insurance conditions and posted safety information.^[1]

• Renting out a private residence or cottage owes North Carolina's 4.75% sales tax. Local and transit rates come on top. So does any occupancy tax levied by the city or county. Sales tax stops once a single guest has stayed ninety days in a row.^[3]