Short-term rental services such as Airbnb and Vrbo are a hot topic in Dallas at the moment due to the noise, traffic, and crime they can produce. The Dallas City Council is expected to vote on regulations or a ban in residential neighborhoods at its June 14 meeting, bringing a nearly four-year process to an end.
But one short-term rental site may be less familiar. Since its appearance on Shark Tank, in March 2020, Swimply has taken off. Co-owner Bunim Laskin began his foray into the amenity rental platform business when he noticed his New Jersey neighbors rarely used their swimming pool and asked if he could rent it for his 12 siblings for a day. His site now allows hosts to rent out all their amenities—pools, home gyms, tennis courts—for an hourly rate. Dallas currently has more than 300 listings on the site.
Ah, but here’s the rub: renting out your swimming pool has always been prohibited in the city. According to Dallas City Code Sec. 51A-4.217, “No private swimming pool may be operated as a business, except that private swimming lessons may be given under the home occupation use.” So you can bring in a professional swim coach, but renting out your pool is verboten.
Since its appearance on Shark Tank, Swimply has taken off.
The good news is that the city gets very few complaints about swimming pool violations. Eric Onyechefule, the Dallas public information coordinator, wrote in an email that most pool complaints come from spas, gyms, and multi-family properties. Owners of the few single-family pools that do generate complaints may be cited for noise violations or illegal land use and may be issued fines.
Ken Skaggs has been a Swimply host in Dallas since 2020, and he says that he’s had no complaints. Some neighbors even rent from him. “I never wanted a pool,” he says. “I always thought boats and pools—it’s better to have a friend that has one. Now I’m the friend for all of my neighbors.”
The Texas Neighborhood Coalition is concerned Swimply is just a newer version of Airbnb. It argues that short-term rentals are noisy and make neighborhoods unsafe. Skaggs does note that when he listed his pool on Swimply, the site never mentioned Dallas City Code’s prohibition. Swimply’s legal team declined to comment for this story.
While the debate on short-term rentals continues in Dallas, the Texas Legislature considered a number of bills during its last session that would have limited how cities can regulate their operations. One, House Bill 2367, would have allowed homeowners to rent their amenities while allowing counties and cities to adopt regulations. The bill didn’t make it to the floor for a vote this session, but it would have reversed Dallas’ prohibition on private pool rentals. Political insiders anticipate its return in some form during the next legislative session, in 2025.
“I can’t think of a reason Dallas should prevent pool rentals,” Skaggs says. “Renting a pool helps the pool owner defray the costs of pool ownership and encourages proper pool maintenance and overall home and yard appearance, thereby increasing neighborhood value, which in turn increases property taxes.”
This story originally appeared in the June issue of D Magazine with the headline, “Pool Rules.” Write to [email protected]. Some of the language in this story was modified from what ran in print to reflect decisions made by the Texas Legislature and the Dallas City Council while the magazine was being printed.
