What You Need to Know about Renting Property in Pine Mountain Lake

With a large percentage of our recent homebuyers having interest in making their homes vacation rentals, I have had numerous inquiries about rent control in Pine Mountain Lake.

Two things have become very obvious:

1. Vacation rentals do very well during Yosemite’s prime season (May to September), and it is attracting investors who want to rent their (second) homes when they are not using them.
2. The influx of renters has had some negative impacts on the community, including congestion of amenity areas and trash issues.

In as such The PML Board of Directors has initiated a PML Rental Cap Policy (Resolution #22.13, dated Nov 19,2022), the terms of which are as follows:

1) Rental Cap.  No more than 25% 0f the lots in the development may be leased to Tenants at any given time. If a Member wishes to lease a Lot to a Tenant (full-time or vacation) at a time when more than 25% of the lots are already being leased, the member may appeal the board for a special exemption.

• A) Rental Cap Exception.  All record Owners of a lot on the date this policy is adopted by the Board of Directors may rent or lease lots.  Members must adhere to all other rental or lease prohibitions, restrictions, and requirements.
• B) Waiting List.  Any Member wishing to lease a lot must submit a written request to the Board to ensure the leasing capacity has not been met.  When at least 25% of all Lots are leased or rented to Tenants, the Board must maintain a waiting list.

2) Lease and Rental Agreement and Addendums

• A) Lease and Rental Agreements in writing.  All Lease and Rental Agreements between a Member and a Tenant must be in writing.
• B) Required Lease and Rental Agreement Provisions.  All provisions of any leases and rental agreements between a Member and Tenant must be consistent with and not violate any provisions of the Association’s Governing Documents.  All leases must include, at a minimum, provisions that require Tenants (1) to comply with all provisions of the Association’s Governing Documents and 2) to be bound by and subject to the same disciplinary procedures and fines as Members.

So, in summary, anyone who purchased their home on Nov 19, 2022 or earlier may rent their home per PML guidelines mentioned above.  Anyone buying after that date will be subject to the 25% Cap.  Of note, as of this writing on 6/1/2022, the level of post 11/19/2022 buyers who are renting is only at 1%.

This is good news for those who want to purchase and rent properties, and not so good news for those that want rentals reduced.  One positive for all is that the demand created by investors is keeping our property values higher than they would otherwise be in this economy.

There are a few other things you should know if you are thinking of renting a property:

1. Pine Mountain lake has an annual fee of $150 for those who are renting properties (full time or vacation rental).
   
2. For those that have vacation rentals, there is a $44 per vehicle access fee, and most owners charge that to the tenants.
   
3. Those who want to use a management company locally mostly use Vacasa or Yosemite Region Resorts.  But many have opted to self-manage and use websites such as AirBNB or VRBO. 
   
4. Tuolumne County charges a 12% Transient Occupancy Tax which must be paid on a quarterly basis. If you are using any of the companies mentioned above, they will collect and remit the payments for you.

If you have any questions pertaining to PML, you can contact Carrie Harvey, Rental Compliance Coordinator for Pine Mountain Lake, at (209) 962-1245.  She is a sweetheart and was very helpful to me with resources for this article.

Tom Knoth
Knoth Properties
[email protected]
209-770-5838