BLACK V. CITY OF LAKE GENEVA
Case Name: Mary Black et al v. City of Lake Geneva
Type of Case: Property Rights
Court: Walworth County Circuit Court
Case Number: 19-CV-759
Filed On: December 10, 2019
Current Status: Summary judgment motion to be filed and briefed, summary judgment motion hearing this summer
Lake Geneva created an onerous set of regulations for people renting their homes out on a short-term basis using popular sites like AirBnB and VRBO. The regulations require owners to permit inspection at any time, impose a $2,000 annual fee, and require owners to install a lock box on the exterior of their building containing a key to the building so that government inspectors can enter the building. We sent a demand letter to the City last fall. We then followed up with a lawsuit in Walworth County when the City delayed making changes. In June, Lake Geneva amended its ordinance, making all the changes we demanded, and lowered its fee to $750.