AUSTIN, Texas -- Vacation rental owners hope support from the Attorney General will help their case against the City, which seeks to overturn rules passed in 2016 that phase out some short-term rental types and require all license holders to agree to warrantless inspections of their properties without notice by city code inspectors.

The rules also limit how many people can gather outside the home during daytime hours, how many unrelated adults can reside inside the home and that all tenants be asleep by 10 p.m.

Rachel Nation owns several short-term rentals throughout Central and North Austin; she opposes many of the restrictions imposed by the City.

"It takes something that was legal for 100 years, and it retroactively takes that away from homeowners," she said.

Nation is not a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought forth by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, but she is mentioned in an Appellant's Brief submitted to the Texas Court of Appeals by Attorney General Ken Paxton. The state joined the case as an Intervenor-Plaintiff Cross -Appellant.

"The practice of renting out a residential unit for…short term visitors has historically been treated as an allowable use," Paxton said in his brief, citing city documents. "A 2011 memorandum from the City openly admits that '[t]he practice of renting out a house, or a portion of a house[,] for a short period of time is an established in.'"

MORE | Paxton files Appellant's Brief

Nation said she is excited to see Paxton join the lawsuit.

In a brief to the Texas Court of Appeals, Paxton said the practice of renting out a home for short-term visitors has historically been an allowable use. Robert Henneke is lead counsel for the plaintiffs through the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

"What you're looking at is not the exchange of money, but you are looking at the type of activity that happens within the home," he said.

Henneke said, while he represents the interests of the seven plaintiffs, Paxton represents the interest of all Texans. Paxton said Austin's rules violate several Constitutional rights, including the First and Fourth Amendments.

"The city gives itself the power to come and inspect a rental at any reasonable time," Henneke said. "The Constitution protects us against any warrantless searches and seizures."

The City of Austin issued a statement regarding Paxton's brief.

"The City successfully defended the short-term rental ordinance in the trial court," a spokesperson said. "Against the backdrop of a favorable trial court decision, we will continue to defend the ordinance in the appellate courts and look forward to the court’s review."

Lawmakers filed bills last year seeking to preempt Austin's rules, but none of them passed. The City has about a month to file its own brief with the court. Henneke hopes to have the case heard this summer.