L.A. County moves to crack down on short-term rentals

Airbnbs and other shortterm rentals in unincorporated areas will be restricted to hosts who are renting out their primary residence, under a proposal that gained preliminary approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Officials say the rentals have proliferated across the county’s unincorporated areas, sometimes leaving a trail of raucous parties and trash-strewn streets.

The proposed ordinance, five years in the making, would prohibit hosts from listing second homes, guesthouses, accessory dwelling units or investment properties in unincorporated L.A. County.

The supervisors, who unanimously passed the ordinance on Tuesday, must vote on it one more time, likely early next month, before it becomes law.

Under the proposed ordinance, hosts of short-term rentals in unincorporated areas — home to roughly 1 million residents — would have to register with the county and pay an annual fee of $914. A property could be rented for no more than 30 consecutive days at a time. And so-called “corporate hosts,” who rent out multiple properties, would have to pull their listings.

“It takes them right out of the game,” said Randy Renick, head of Better Neighbors LA, which pushes for regulations on short-term rentals.

Better Neighbors LA says the ordinance would return desperately needed housing to the market. The group has estimated that there are more than 2,600 houses available for short-term rental in unincorporated parts of the county.

The ordinance is supported by several tenant advocacy groups and public officials, who argue that shortterm rentals are displacing long-term residents and replacing them with unruly tourists. Some residents have told news outlets that their street has been turned into a “de facto hotel.”

“All around the County, residents must suddenly deal with commercial enterprises in the middle of their neighborhoods, bringing in rowdy parties, parking difficulties, high volumes of trash, loud noise, and guests that have no stake in safeguarding the community,” a coalition of city officials wrote in a joint letter.

Some hosts — as well as the rental platforms they use — oppose the proposed ordinance, arguing that it is an “attack” on mom-andpop landlords, disincentivizes tourists from visiting and cuts off a much-needed income stream.

At a county supervisors’ meeting last month, Airbnb host Ellen Snortland said she felt she was being unfairly lumped in with corporate landlords. She said she is in her 70s and uses Airbnb to stave off foreclosure.

“Do you think people like us Airbnb hosts do it to get rich?” she said. “We do it for survival.”

Vrbo, an online platform for vacation rentals, said it believes the county’s regulations would harm both tourists and the families that want to host them.

The proposal “severely limits the options available to traveling families visiting the area and economic opportunity for residents who own, manage, and service these accommodations,” a spokesperson for Expedia Group, which oversees Vrbo, wrote in a statement.

The county’s crackdown comes more than five years after the city of Los Angeles passed its own short-term rental restrictions, which barred Angelenos from renting out second homes on platforms such as Airbnb. The county proposal would bring regulations on such rentals in its unincorporated areas roughly in line with the city’s rules.

Maria Patiño Gutierrez, director of policy with the tenant rights group Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, said residents will sometimes report illegal vacation rentals in their neighborhoods, only to discover that the homes are actually in unincorporated L.A. County and therefore completely legal.

“The housing crisis is in all of L.A. County,” she said.

Some supporters of the ordinance have said they hope to see one significant difference from city rules: enforcement with teeth.

Researchers have found that hosts in L.A. regularly flout the city’s rules, with few consequences. A study from 2022 found that nearly half of the short-term rentals in the city were illegal.

Renick, of Better Neighbors LA, said he believes the county will do a better job of enforcement, though he said details on how that will be done are “thin.”

“We’re confident, given what the various supervisors have told us, that the county’s going to take enforcement seriously,” he said.

Nichole Alcaraz, operations chief with the county Treasurer and Tax Collector’s office, which spearheaded the ordinance, said penalties are still being hammered out for hosts who don’t comply. She said more details would be released in the coming month.

“We do know there’s going to be an enforcement arm. We do have some general ideas about how that’s going to work,” she said. “But the amount [of the penalty] may change.”

The ordinance would go into effect six months after the final vote, and would apply to all property owners in unincorporated L.A. County — with the exception of those along the coast.

The California Coastal Commission must weigh in on the ordinance before it will apply to residents in unincorporated coastal areas — including Marina del Rey, Catalina Island and the Santa Monica Mountains.