No more “party house” in Glendale if new Airbnb law passes

Local cities are seeing decreasing listings of illegal rentals on platforms like Airbnb

Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and City Hall
Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and City Hall

Glendale is the latest city to consider cracking down on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.

City Council is expected to vote in September on rules that would ban vacation rentals and regulate home sharing, the Glendale News-Press reported. The city’s Planning Commission unanimously approved the ordinance this week.

If approved, the ordinance would ban short-term stays where the host isn’t present, and rooms that are rented where the host is present will be capped to 180 days per year. Residents planning to rent out a room with landlord approval would need to register with the city and pay a transient-occupancy tax. Accessory-dwelling units of properties will be prohibited for any short-term stays.

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Glendale currently has no regulations on such short-term rentals. One home in Glendale was reportedly listed as a party house, and the city council cited it and other issues, as well as the shrinking housing stock and rising rents, as reasons to regulate short-term rental platforms.

Some property owners, however, argued that the city is taking away needed income by limiting or banning them from renting out their space.

Glendale follows Los Angeles — where an ordinance went into effect this month — and other local cities like Pasadena that have imposed increased restrictions or similar bans. Cities like West Hollywood and Santa Monica, which battled against home-sharing platforms in court for years over enforcement, have seen decreasing numbers of illegal rentals since enacting new restrictions. [Glendale News-Press] — Gregory Cornfield