The News: Today, the Door County Circuit Court denied the Village of Sister Bay’s motion to dismiss, allowing the lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) to move forward.  WILL represents four homeowners in Sister Bay who are challenging the Village’s four-bedroom limit on short-term rentals.  

All four homeowners were either already renting their homes, or began building them, well before the four-bedroom limit was adopted. The lawsuit argues that the limit violates the right-to-rent law, is arbitrary and irrational, and cannot be applied to pre-existing properties. 

The Quotes: WILL Deputy Counsel, Luke Berg, stated, “We are pleased that the Court rejected the Village’s various procedural arguments to avoid the merits of our lawsuit. We will now move forward toward a final resolution of our claims. The Village cannot and should not dictate where guests sleep in a private home.”     

Additional Background: Wisconsin law gives homeowners the right to rent their home on a short-term basis. Wis. Stat. § 66.1014. Property owners also have a right under Wisconsin law to continue a non-conforming use after a change to local zoning laws, preventing municipalities from retroactively applying zoning changes to existing properties. 

Despite these laws, Sister Bay has repeatedly taken the position that properties lose any vested non-conforming features of their property, merely by applying for a short-term-rental license. Property owners who violate the rules risk penalties from $500 to $5,000 per day. WILL issued a lawsuit on behalf of several property owners in Sister Bay earlier last year.  

Read more:

• Judge’s Decision, March 2025
• Complaint, September 2024