Changing City Ordinance to Support Short Term Rentals

[Brad30]

I am/was an Airbnb host in the Monterey, California area.  We love using home sharing for all of our travels as it has always suited our desire to feel at home while abroad.  We recently opened our home on Airbnb to other travelers and found ourselves in the middle of a dispute going on with our local, outdated, city ordinance and a short term rentals alliance group.  These disputes exist in many cities so I know this is not an uncommon thing.  Upon doing some research I stumbled upon this community and figure it would be worth a try to reach out to other Airbnb hosts in other parts of the world and see who has had success addressing/changing local city ordanances that prohibit short term rentals (STR) like Monterey City.  Monterey City has even gone as far as having there enforcement resurces create accounts on Airbnb and make fake reservation requests so they can issue citations. If you have any insight on how to address these issues (legally, through media awareness campaigns, through cummnuties that can help, etc...) I would be very interested.  Our goal is to motivate the city to change the outdated ordinance and allow for STR in Monterey, CA.  I personally have heard all of the arguments against STR due to the need to ADA regulations, impacts on parking, noise, etc... and I beleive it is ridiculous.  However, shared economies are an evolution and evolutions only happen when people with a common goal come together to invoke a change.  I am hoping this thread will be the beginning of this change allowing us to relist our property on Airbnb and continue being Superhosts 🙂

[Rene-and-Zac0]

LaQuinta also just hired a "bounty hunter" to track down "unlicensed" listings. I think the contract was to the tune of about $250k a year. 

[Linda108]

@Rene-and-Zac0 Your post is on an old discussion thread and there have been many changes here in La Quinta.  After embracing the Air BNB collection and remittance of the TOT in September, La Quinta cancelled the contract in December because of the lack of information to trace payment to the individual registered STR host.  Of course the City incentive to engage with Air BNB was identification of those hosts who were not in compliance.  Now the City has engaged a group that data mines to identify these same non-compliant hosts.

What's happening in DHS?

[Lenore22]

I would love to hear an update on La Quinta @Linda108

[JJ--Judith0]

Helo Brad & Linda,  Viewing your posts here with interest, as our own SOCAL city, San Juan Capistrano, since a first hearing to address STR's and their own outdated Land Use codes was held here on Tuesday, and now myself, a superhost going on 5 yrs successful hosting, with 3 other AIRBNB hosts, will be meeting to discuss how we will address and influence the decision making in our own quaint, popular, historic town.  There are no hotels here, although a local battle has ensued between the developers of 2 hotel projects already broken ground, and we are not on the coast like LAguna Beach and San Clemente, so there is also different criteria which the coastal commission does not have jurisdiction over in our town, just 2 miles inland, handling a lot of overflow of travelers to those very tourist towns.

Linda, I am about to send a request for the same legal support you mentioned was received in La Quinta for your group.  Do you recall the name fo the support person who visited from AIRBNB head office?  I've met Steve Ruiz at Dwell, who was a regional manager, but not sure he is still there.

Thanks a Bunch!

[Linda108]

Hi @JJ--Judith0  The young woman who assisted in the formation of the La Quinta Host Club is no longer there.  Here is a link to the description of the Home Sharing Club which includes a link to start a club:

https://community.airbnb.com/html/assets/ClubsFAQ.pdf

Let me know how it goes.

[Lisa690]

Hi

I am an Airbnb host in Laguna Niguel.  My HOA is harrassing Airbnb hosts and threatening to increase HOA fines for hosts who rent less than 30 days.  I would like to submit a written argument to HOA Board meeting in support of STRs.  Can anyone direct me to a link or send me some good language arguing the case for why STR are good for community, property values, homeowners, etc?

Thanks,

Lisa

[Christian434]

They aren't good for the cities their in. Most renters are very noisy when they arrive at all hours of the morning or evening and leave trash and their 'car clean outs' ( with diapers) in the streets and driveways. The 'hosts' should pay through the nose to get licenses and heavy fines for the illegal actions of their renters. 

[Linda108]

What is your relationship to Air BNB, @Christian434?  I don't see that you are either a host or guest.  While your concerns are important, what steps have you taken to address your concerns?  I personally, as both a guest and a host, have not had your experience.  I am not invalidating your experience, just responding to your post.

[Sarah1087]

Hi Judith, 

I know this thread is a couple of years old...but I am interested in hosting in San Juan Capistrano. Do you have any insight as to what the current restrictions are for AIRBNB hosts?

[Cherie15]

We currently host in Coronado CA and it appears the newly elected Mayor Bailey is starting to consider transient ordinance changes to either ban short term rentals OR allow Short Term Rentals with taxes. We think it would be great if the city would allow Shorter Term Rentals than the current 26 day minim stay however, the consequences to our community of extending the minimum stay beyond 27+ days could be grave. Our goal is to get the vacation rental community support by taking the survey on CoronadoTimes.com. Web link: https://rpbailey.wufoo.com/forms/maeqvbf1t2ehlh/survey link https://rpbailey.wufoo.com/forms/maeqvbf...There are 3 questions which pertain to short term vacation rentals. The deadline to take the survey is before January 28, 2017 when results will be discussed at the city council meeting. We are concerned stakeholders, let’s join together in taking the survey to make our voices heard and get this community back towards prosperity!

[Mj10]

My city is trying to ban short term rentals of less than 30 days.  But I feel if you invite a guest to stay in a room in your home while you are there it does not qualify as a short term rental but they are actually a boarder.  I think it is a different situation entirely if you rent your full home out.  What are cities positions on "boarders" I feel back in the olden days you could have someone stay in your home and it was your business - not any city regulators business.  

What does Airbnb say about this?

[David126]

Most Hotels have somebody on site 24/7 which is what you seem to be describing.

Regulations concerning land use are relatively recent so in the old days it would not be an issue.

[Ken118]

Hi from Westport Wisconsin (15 min from Madison)

My neighbor Jan and I just got "visits" from town officials leaving a very outdated ordinance that does not allow airbnb in our zoning. We have been told to appear before the local zoning board to describe our appeal for zoning that would allow guests. We are evidently the first to offer airbnb. Jan is a superhost I have been using it for travel for 2 years but have just had 7 guests in my listing.

Any guidance in dealing with small farm town mentality to get this changed appreciated. We were evidently turned in by a neighbor but we don't know who or why. We have been especially careful supervising our guests and using the words quiet neighborhood aand no parties an inordiant number of times. We are both full time residents and feel it is our right to share our homes and our beautiful lake Mendota. It brings money into the neighborhood and more than one guest has been interested in moving here which should be a plus for local community? Trying to look at all sides.

Here is Madison's recent ruling which seems palatable.

https://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/programs/short-term-rentals

Any help appreciated!

Ken 

[Karin5]

I live in Levittown, Pennsylvania. I was an Airbnb host for almost 2 years when a neighbor reported me. My home is my primary residence and I rented 1 room. So I did not have multiple guests which made my home look like a "tourist home".  It is my property which I own and pay for, and it should have been my right to share my home. My property - my business. This is a single-family home that's not in an HOA, so there's no common property with neighbors nor a gated community.

My guests were well-behaved and left neighbors alone. Apparently, some paranoid neighbor did not like all the out-of-state cars coming into the neighborhood.

After being reported, I had to apply for a variance, but I was denied and then had to shut down later on. I was upset and felt like I just got fired from a job I love. I reached Superhost status before I was reported.

The township then shut all the other hosts down. Just I and one other host were willing to continue fighting it, but everybody else in the town thought it wasn't worth it and then took their listings down. There were about 15 to 20 listings in the town.

I'm in a small, old-fashioned township who has no clue about how Airbnb and the sharing economy works. Their codebooks mentioned nothing about short-terms rentals because nobody in the township knew what short-terms rentals are.

Airbnb helped me keep my home, but since I was forced to quit, I am now selling my property. I can't afford to keep this house anymore. It is also not comfortable being on the township's radar. But then my feet do not have roots so I am not planted here. I am self-employed so I can live anywhere. After the house sells, I am taking the sale proceeds and moving to Virginia, to the Virginia Beach area. 

I always dreaded moving but now I am actually looking forward to moving.

[David126]

@Karin5

On what hat basis did they close you down? You said you had to apply for a variance, why?