Extended permit

[Armond3]

Hi Host Community.  I wanted to apply for an extended permit, but city is asking me to pay over $1,000 (non refundable) to mail mailers to the neighborhood.  But what if even one neighbor says they disagree, then what happens? Do I get my extended permit denied? 

Tried to reach the city about this, by mail or phone a million times, no answer of course. Does anyone knows how it works? Please help.

Also does airbnb restricts the 120 days and doesn't allow guests to book passed that? Or is that something you need to count and restrict on your own? Thank you so much in advance. 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Armond3 ,  Did you manage to find more information on the extended permits? Have you heard back from the city yet? 

I am also reaching out a few Hosts from Los Angeles
@Colby-and-Conrad1 @Colby67 @Kristen716 @Nicol8064 @Paul11401  @Tengri0 @Jordon12 @Alyssa480 @Jamie-and-David0 @Ekaterina180 if they have any advice for us in this regards! 🌻

[Kristen716]

I had to contact my city Councilperson, Nithya Ramen, and through her office they finally emailed me. (My extended home sharing permit expired after repeated attempts on my part to upload my information via their website.) The city told me to reapply for a regular permit and that they would waive the 60 days waiting period required to apply for the extended permit. I am also unable to apply for a regular permit, as if I'm a new customer. It fails to be able to read my license! 

I also found out that city planning was part of a citywide data breach in February of this year and that affected email addresses were flagged. I believe that mine was one of these and I've been blocked.

[Bhumika]

Oh no @Kristen716! How have you been dealing with this issue now? 

Thank you so much for coming back and trying to help @Armond3 🌻

[Kristen716]

I've been trying in every single way possible, Including talking to many other Airbnb hosts on Facebook, who have had this very same problem with the city of LA. Many of them have received no emails from them since early January.

The city is putting the onus on the permit holders and saying that we should've checked our spam. Considering I have been in their system in reliably receiving correspondence from them for over three years, it was inconceivable to me that all of a sudden their emails to me would be going to spam. It may have helped if they would've answered my phone calls and emails.

It's costing us all thousands of dollars in bookings as we wait for the city to respond or to solve some of these issues. I attempted to make an online appointment with city planning but they declined considering they don't handle short-term housing related issues.

I'm currently waiting for their technical support to reach out to me about why I'm unable to upload my license. If I don't hear from them by Tuesday next week, I will reach back out to my city Council person.

[Bhumika]

I hope things work out for you soon @Kristen716 ! Fingers crossed 🤞 

Do keep us posted of the updates how it goes with the city.

Again thank you so much for sharing information with us 🌻

[Kristen716]

The thousand dollars is the permit fee that allows you to rent 365 days of the year is opposed to 120 for the regular permit.

As part of getting the extended permit, they do send flyers to people on your street. I've never had anyone on the street call or deny me. 

The city keeps track of how many nights you have as does Airbnb. If you have the extended home sharing permit, They allow you to rent every single day of the year. At least that's been my experience. For the 120 day cut off you get a notice is you are approaching it

[Kristen716]

I found out that the office of city planning was part of a citywide data breach in February of this year. This caused Google to block any affected email addresses which send their emails directly to spam. It would've been very helpful if city planning would've told us this so that we could've looked in our spam but they were not required to notify us. They told me to reapply for a regular HS permit and that they would waive the 60 day wait to apply for the extended permit but now, their portal will not/cannot read the information on my license!