After its case was dismissed in federal court, a group of homeowners has filed a new lawsuit in state court claiming that Summit County’s short-term rental regulations violate the state constitution and state law.

Summit Resort Homeowners Inc., a group that says it represents 100 homeowners in Summit County, filed the lawsuit against the Summit Board of County Commissioners in Summit County court on Sept. 20. The lawsuit claims that the county’s short-term rental regulations violate the state constitution and state statute related to lawful nonconforming uses.

“The suit is challenging the legality of the short-term rental regulations that went into effect Oct. 1, 2023,” Summit Resort Homeowners director Todd Ruelle said in a phone interview. “Summit Resort Homeowners Inc. have come together to challenge the regulations in Colorado state court because there are a lot of protections in state law for homeowners that have been renting for years.”

The Summit County government declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Much of the language in the lawsuit is identical to the lawsuit Summit Resort Homeowners filed in U.S. District Court in Denver last year. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit in June stating that the homeowners “have not established that the right to rent one’s property is a fundamental right” under the U.S. Constitution.

The regulations in question limit the number of properties that can hold short-term rental licenses in the unincorporated county’s various basins, ranging from 5% to 18%. There is no limit in areas defined as “resort overlay zones,” such as Copper Mountain. The rules also limit the number of annual bookings for short-term rentals to 35 and create a per-bedroom occupancy limit for short-term rentals.

Commissioners have said the rules were designed to mitigate the impact of short-term rentals on housing supply and neighborhoods.

The state lawsuit alleges harm to property owners’ livelihoods and states that short-term rentals are “a supplemental source of income for homeowners, many of whom rely on that income to pay their mortgages or for other basic needs.”

The complaint lists multiple plaintiffs who it claims will lose tens of thousands of dollars and may not be able to pay their mortgages because of the regulations. It states that the homeowners’ voices “were ignored by the county.”

The lawsuit claims that the short-term rental regulations violate the Colorado Constitution, which states “all persons have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.” It claims that Colorado law recognizes a right to unrestricted use of property.

The complaint further alleges that the short-term regulations violate Colorado laws related to “nonconforming uses,” or uses that were once allowed in a particular zoning area but are no longer allowed. It claims that short-term rentals are a legal nonconforming use and therefore under state law local governments cannot enforce regulations “that requires a nonconforming use that was lawful at the time of its inception to be terminated.”

While the federal lawsuit was dismissed, Ruelle said that he believes the lawsuit in state court will be successful “because we have the funding to go all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.”

“We will appeal if we are not successful,” Ruelle said. “But we feel we have very strong claims.”