Ocean City to extend moratorium on short-term rentals through January 2027
OCEAN CITY, Md. – There was a drama at the most recent Ocean City at the Mayor and Council meeting on Monday night. It was all about short-term rentals.
There was a belief among OC residents that this would be over. Residents voted on the controversial issue via ballot back in July.
The question was whether to ban short-term rentals in the R1 and MH housing districts. The decision is as follows: 834 against banning short-term rentals, and 800 for the restrictions.
The Ocean City Council decided to extend the moratorium that will allow officials to weigh rental restrictions. The current limits on the Residential 1 and Mobile Home districts were set to expire on January of 2026. Now with the extension, it provides them another year to make the decision, which would be January of 2027.
Resort town officials say the extension allows them to think about every facet of the potential decision. City Manager, Terry McGean, explains it. “If we don’t have a moratorium in place, then there potentially could be a flood of new license applications.”
McGean adds that the rental licenses in R1 and MH don’t make the dent some residents believe they do. “There are about 9,000 rental licenses in the town of Ocean City, those two rental districts account for about 300 of them.”
He says he wants to make it clear: the moratorium prohibits the issue of new licenses in those specific districts. However, those with current rental licenses retain them.
Terry Miller – an OC resident – claims the extension is biased. “We have this segment that says I want you to come, and I want you to spend your money, but you can’t stay next door to me.”
She adds the popular resort destination is losing money.
“Hotels are down, and this is an inroad to try and chip away at the short-term rental market,” said Miller. She claims it hurts tourism. “Ocean City is all about people coming and making memories.”
McGean believes officials will work hard to make a decision before the extension deadline in 2027.
Those opposing the ordinance are organizing petitions, you can click here.
