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Residential
Los Angeles

Illegal vacation rentals surge in Los Angeles

Scofflaw short-term rentals grow 25%, but enforcement declines, report finds

(Getty)
(Getty)
By
Feb 28, 2023, 11:40 AM

Illegal vacation rentals in Los Angeles surged 25 percent in the period between November 2021 and October 2022 compared with the same period the previous year. But as the illegal rentals spread, the city issued 54 percent fewer warning letters to owners of the illegal sites and levied 85 percent fewer fines, according to a report by housing advocacy group Better Neighbors LA.  

LA city officials did not comment on the report’s findings, according to a story from LAist, a public broadcaster formerly known as KPCC. It first posted a story on Better Neighbors LA’s report Feb. 25.

City of Los Angeles law stipulates that property owners who break its Home Sharing Ordinance regulations can be fined $500 per day. But the Better Neighbors LA study found the city levied a little more than $57,000 in fines in 2022. The hosts of the scofflaw short-term rentals paid about $9,800 of those fines.

Hadsell Stormer Renick Dai's Randy Renick (Getty, Hadsell Stormer Renick Dai LLP)
Hadsell Stormer Renick Dai’s Randy Renick (Hadsell Stormer Renick Dai LLP)

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Representatives of major vacation rental company Airbnb said that it has been working with city officials to remove non-compliant listings that have been flagged by the city. 

Randy Renick, executive director of Better Neighbors LA, said the surge of illegal vacation rentals takes place in a time of crisis.

“Illegal short-term rentals hike up rents, creating a cascade that pushes people out of their neighborhoods and pushes those on the verge of homelessness into homelessness,” Renick said in a prepared statement. “It’s time that the city crack down on HSO (Home-Sharing Ordinance) violations and protect its citizens. The city of Los Angeles can’t afford to lose any more affordable housing.”

–Andrew Asch

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