Notice of Violation: City of Huntington Beach, CA

Stephen93
Level 1
Huntington Beach, CA

Notice of Violation: City of Huntington Beach, CA

Anyone else in Huntington Beach receive a letter from the city stating short term rentals of less than 30 days is prohibited? 

I received this about two weeks ago and now have been sent a violation notice. Any suggestions?

I have never rented out the entire home, just a room, and always while I am present. 

Thanks

25 Replies 25
David518
Level 1
Burbank, CA

I just got a notice from Burbank saying I was reported as a hotel and must appear at city hall to refute. If you Stephen or anyone else knows how to deal with this please let me know. Thanks. David
Kathryn52
Level 3
Huntington Beach, CA

I too received a violation notice from Huntington Beach. Same setup. Private listing inside my primary residence. Join me at the next city council meeting?

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

If you are allowed to rent out rooms in your home, can you not just send them a screen grab of your listing and then they will see you are not breaking any local laws?

There is not a clear distinction between whole home and private room short term rental in the city of Huntington Beach zoning code. 

I'm in despair about this turn of events, but I'm going to keep in contact with the city through council meetings and try to attract other hosts to the meetings as well. 

 

Hi Kathryn. We saw your posting and the one that Stephen also posted regarding this subject. We just received a similar notice from the city of Huntington Beach. We will be contacting the city this week to understand what exactly we're violating. Can you give us any insights on dealing with the city? Have you had any host meetings in Huntington Beach or are you planning any in the near future? We'd be interested in attending.

Thank you for any help you can give.

Rick & Celeste

Adela6
Level 2
Huntington Beach, CA

Hi Stephen,

I'm also a host in HB. Myself and few other hosts have started an alliance to address this issue with our city council. It would be great if you could attend one of our meetings. Please let me know if you're interested.

 

I have a 3 bedroom home in Huntington Beach. Do you know if I can do airbnb for Huntington Beach? Thanks

Adela6
Level 2
Huntington Beach, CA

Hi Stephen,

I'm also a host in HB. Myself and few other hosts have started an alliance to address this issue with our city council. It would be great if you could attend one of our meetings. Please let me know if you're interested.

 

Sara470
Level 2
Huntington Beach, CA

Hello I am a newer host in HB and just received a letter from the city, can you please send me any info or if there are meetings coming up? I don't know what I am supposed to do about all my future Bookings, does this mean we have to stop completely?

Hi Sarah, here is what I can tell you. I received a similar notice from the city. I spoke with the gentleman handling my notification. He was very nice on the phone, explained the city's position and ultimately asked for proof that I was in compliance. Because of my particular situation I took down my listing completely and cancelled my future guests. It was very sad for me and my guests.

 

The city's position is no short-term rentals, that is, rentals for less than 30 days. But the city also said that you can have renters who stay just a few days as long as you do not rent the space to anothe renter until the 30 days are up. So basically you are allowed one rental agreement per month. No more than that.

 

As far as your guests who are already booked I would advise you to contact them in the order of their arrival and if you have more than one renter in a month have the extra  renters cancel their reservation with you. Depending on how you set up your listing the renter may not receive any type of cancellation fee. You will however if you have 10 or more cancellations in a short period.

Another thing you may want to do is reach out to other Airbnb hosts to see if any of them can take your extra renters.

 

Good luck,

 

Rick

Hello Rick,

 

Thank you for your response! I'm sorry I didn't see it until now. I will do what you recommended. I'm so sad as well with the turn of events as I enjoy hosting! I appreciate your info.

 

Sara

Hello Rick,

 

Thank you for your response! I'm sorry I didn't see it until now. I will do what you recommended. I'm so sad as well with the turn of events as I enjoy hosting! I appreciate your info.

 

Sara

Hi Rick & Celeste, 

 

I'm planning to become host in Huntington Beach. Do you guys have a group or meetup to network?

Rick-and-Celeste0
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

In reply to Adela, yes, we're interested. We hope that others who have been affected will also reply. This blog is good to have but not so easy to locate. We're guessing a lot of other people have been affected but may not be aware of the attempt to meet up.