Pebble Beach couple battles short-term rental fine.

A Pebble Beach physician and his wife are suing Monterey County after they were found to be illegally renting their vacant multi-million dollar home. The couple was forced to stop renting the property known as “Woods Hole” and were levied a fine that could reach $100,000 for violating county code.

While inland properties can be used as short-term rentals for no less than seven days, such rentals are not permitted in the unincorporated coastal zone. Nonetheless, William Lewis and his wife, Duncan, are crying foul.

“It’s not fair play. Why is the county allowing inland property owners to generate income from their property but not people on the coast?” says the Lewises’ attorney, Mark O’Connor of Carmel. “The county ordinance violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

Located on the 14th tee of Pebble Beach Golf Links on 17-Mile Drive, Woods Hole is a 5,500-square-foot, six bedroom and seven bath estate that can accommodate parties of up to 100 people. The county found renting the estate could generate income up to $300,000 a year.

The Lewises have marketed Wood’s Hole as a high-end vacation rental and wedding venue managed by their son’s realty company.

For more than a decade, they have paid the appropriate transient occupancy taxes, O’Connor says.

On June 11 of last year, the county Resource Management Agency took action to stop the Lewises, after an inland property owner complained that the couple was in violation of county code. An administrative hearing was held Oct. 23, and the fine was levied. The Lewises filed suit Dec. 22.

“The ordinance is basically unenforceable,” O’Connor says. “The county only acts when a complaint is made. It seems that a property owner in Carmel Valley didn’t like competition.”

The Lewis case will makes it first appearance in Monterey County Superior Court on April 26.