It's been a year and a half since I wrote about the Bert Harris Act – right about when Island property owners were starting to challenge the vacation rental regulations. In view of several new Bert Harris claims on the Island, I thought it might be time to tune up Bert Harris for those who don't know what it is.

The Bert J. Harris, Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act of 1995 was created to restore balance to the regulatory process by providing citizens with a mechanism for seeking compensation when government regulations or policy actions inordinately burden their property rights.

The act states specifically; "The term inordinate burden means that an action of one or more governmental entities has directly restricted or limited the use of real property such that the property owner is permanently unable to attain the reasonable, investment-backed expectation for the existing use of the real property or a vested right to a specific use of the real property with respect to the real property as a whole, or that the property owner is left with existing or vested uses that are unreasonable."

That sure is a word salad of terms and moving parts, but the essence of it relates to protecting the use of private property. When the act was drafted in 1995 the strongest critics of it were primarily city and county governments that frequently passed regulations that impacted the use of private property resulting in a financial loss to the owner. According to some property owners in the city of Anna Maria, the city is attempting to reduce the number of rentals by restricting the number of people permitted in each rental, specifically restricting the number of individuals who can occupy a rental unit to eight. This also can be controlled, not only in Anna Maria but also in the other cities, through the use of building permits for new or existing properties.

The argument against the cities and what is also generating so many Bert Harris claims is that state law prevents local governments from prohibiting vacation rentals for any duration. However, the number of occupants in a rental is not specifically part of the state law.

Recently the city of Anna Maria has been hit with over 40 Bert Harris claims seeking more than $12.5 million in compensation as previously reported in this paper. The law does permit property owners who consider that the value of their property has been diminished because of rental restrictions imposed by the city to seek financial compensation. The law suits are being accompanied by documentation, including professional real estate appraisals, in an effort to make the case that a loss of revenue from the property because of rental restrictions substantially reduces the overall value of the property.

There is room for negotiating some of these points between the cities and property owners that does not involve cash settlements. Adjusting the number of days, number of occupants and length of years the properties will be permitted to operate as rentals could be a compromise, but would only be applicable to current rental properties.

That's the Bert Harris tune up. I hope it makes all of this a little more understandable. As I wrote last time, living in such a beautiful and desirable place is both a blessing and a curse. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and focus on the blessings.