The City Council is set to review an ordinance that aims to strengthen West Hollywood’s enforcement authority for unlawful vacation (short-term) rentals. The proposed amendments, which would affect the Zoning Ordinance (West Hollywood Municipal Code Title 19) and related regulations, will be considered in an upcoming public hearing.
The ordinance seeks to hold platforms and users accountable for utilizing false West Hollywood addresses in rental listings.
Last year, City Hall was tasked with reviewing the existing vacation rental ordinance and exploring ways to address false property addresses in short-term rental listings within the city’s jurisdiction. In December 2022, city officials met with the City of Los Angeles Planning Department to discuss the issue, and Los Angeles expressed its willingness to cooperate with short-term rental platforms to remove any misleading advertisements featuring West Hollywood addresses.
Despite existing prohibitions on vacation rentals and advertisements, the City has faced challenges in regulating unlawful vacation rentals, including false advertisements that mislead renters by suggesting a property is located within West Hollywood when it is, in fact, outside the city’s jurisdiction. Obtaining information necessary for successful prosecution of these cases has proven difficult for city staff.
To address these challenges and combat unlawful rentals and advertisements, the proposed amendments aim to expand liability under the Zoning Code to hosting platforms and hosts engaging in false advertising within the city. Additionally, the enforcement tools will be enhanced, and options such as administrative penalties, civil and criminal prosecution will be considered. The proposed changes would also hold violators responsible for reimbursing the City and law enforcement agencies for investigation costs and require retroactive payment of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). Furthermore, individuals would have a private right of action to bring suit against hosts violating the ordinance.
Regarding hosting platforms, the proposed ordinance imposes liability limited to processing booking transactions and accepting associated fees for unlawful vacation rentals. This approach aligns with legal precedent set in cases involving San Francisco and Santa Monica, where courts upheld liability for hosting platforms involved in facilitating illegal rentals.
The amendments will also explicitly authorize the City Council to issue administrative subpoenas to ensure compliance with the ordinance.
While the proposed ordinance does not address all policy issues related to unlawful vacation rentals, it represents a crucial step in strengthening the City’s enforcement tools to protect its housing stock from being exploited as unlawful vacation rentals.
The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed ordinance on May 18, 2023, and unanimously supported it. During the commission’s discussion, questions were raised and clarified regarding current enforcement activities, the definition of “persons” within the ordinance, administrative subpoena processes, community outreach plans, and the review of citation fees. The Planning Commission recommended that the City Council assess the adequacy of the existing administrative citation fee schedule, particularly as it relates to third-party hosting platforms, to deter noncompliance.
The City Council will hold a public hearing to consider all pertinent testimony before introducing the ordinance on first reading.
I do think Airbnb should be banned for the most part, but do think guest houses in property someone lives on or shared spaces should be allowed. Those two things could be critical to help someone pay their mortgage.
Here’s the deal, LA has access to all the Airbnb rentals in their city so they can tax hosts, WeHo doesn’t have the manpower to do this. So LA hosts use WeHo addresses for their rentals then send a message with the actual address on check in day, but the renters often don’t see them. I had people coming to my door multiple times a week for 11 months and couldn’t do anything about it. Airbnb is an awful company and getting an article in a large publication was what it took to get them to remove the 40 listings… Read more »
Smash the AirBnb industry in Weho. It drives up rental prices, runs down the structures in neighborhoods and devalues the neighborhoods as well. We live in a city that values people, renters and homeowners, we are lucky to have rent control in place and those that use their rent control apartments to bring multiple sub tenants, abuse the system and those that follow the rules. I live directly across the landing from someone that continues to abuse the rules, AirBnB renters don’t care about other tenants, noise or the yard. It’s a constant merry-go-round of new people that don’t care.… Read more »
Tell us what your job is, and ket me predict your life when we cap the salary at 1970 levels. You need to move to one of the few remaining Stalinist dictatorships left. You’ll feel at home where no one owns private property.
Yes to all of that! 100%
While I don’t use airbnb….I don’t want the government interfering in private property.
If someone can’t afford to live in an area…..then they have two choices: get better skills and make more money or find an area they can afford.
We also need to end rent control.
Indeed doesn’t pass the vibe check…the problem is corporations buying up properties and profiting. I think corporations and non-US residents should be banned from buying homes here. I do think people should be able to rent out guest houses at property they live on though.
This whole thing is stupid. Movie productions require people for a few weeks to a few months and the city wants people to rent for a year? Or use a hotel long term? But the current city council is anti-hotel also. Or are they just mad that someone owns and they rent so this is some kind of jealousy legislation?
Nobody is forcing a person to stay in a hotel long term. How do you even interpret it that way?
Great. Anything they can do to discourage more wealthy visitors from spending money here, lower property values, protect our precious freeloaders. Who really benefits? The hotels. I wonder if they or their unions are giving out bribes.
They can stay as long as they want, and spend as much as they want, but not in a unit in which it is illegal to rent short term.
I agree landlords should follow the law. The problem is the law, which was written by corrupt people, destined to stay in office decade after decade. You vote for them, in exchange they will give nearly free under market rent to the freeloaders. Win-win for corruption at the expense of landlords.
The people we vote for are term limited.
Even IF I vote for them.
Some people should stay in office longer, I think.