LA has rules for Airbnb and Vrbo listings – but are they enforced?

People listing vacation rentals on websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo in the city of Los Angeles are supposed to follow a few clear rules: they can only rent their primary residence. They cannot list an apartment subject to the city’s rent control law. And they have to register with the city and display their registration number in every ad.

LA officials say they’ve been enforcing those rules since November 2019. But a recent study found widespread signs that the city’s home-sharing ordinance is routinely violated — and lack of enforcement may lead to more hosts breaking the law.

Here’s a breakdown of how legal listings work in Los Angeles, and what’s known about how the law is — and isn’t — enforced.

For more on this topic, listen last week KPCC AirTalk Segmentwhich featured the study’s author, McGill University urban planning professor David Wachsmuth, and an Airbnb representative, public policy manager Andrew Kalloch.

How do I know if I am staying in an illegal vacation rental?

It can be difficult. When looking for a compliant listing in the city of LA, the first step you can take is to check the listing for a license number provided by the city.

However, just because a listing displays a license number does not necessarily mean that it complies with the rules. The McGill study found that 26.5% of listings on Airbnb and Vrbo that displayed a license number used an expired license or a number that did not exist in the city’s database of valid records.

Airbnb representatives said they routinely share listing data with the city, allowing the city to flag listings with invalid license numbers for removal.

“When the city tells us that a listing is invalid or has been declined, we disable the listing or restrict it from hosting short-term stays,” an Airbnb spokesperson said via email.

But even hosts with valid license numbers sometimes appeared to be circumventing the law, the McGill study found, in many cases by booking rentals for more than 120 days a year without the city’s permission for an “extended” roommate. .

All of this means that it can be difficult for travelers to be sure that the vacation rental they book in Los Angeles complies with city rules.

Does Airbnb confirm that hosts follow local laws before listings go live?

Airbnb representatives said hosts must enter a license number or request an exemption from city regulations before their listings can be posted online. But whether Airbnb is taking steps to verify that these numbers are legitimate before listings go live remains unclear.

Airbnb’s head of public policy has been pressed about this several times on AirTalk by KPCCand did not answer the question directly.

“What our system does is make it easier to share data with the city of Los Angeles,” Airbnb’s Kalloch said, in response to questions from AirTalk host Larry Mantle. “It’s the city’s responsibility to provide us with information when they know a permit has expired or a permit might be a wrong number. And again, we take appropriate action when this happens.

An Airbnb spokesperson told LAist that the information Airbnb shares with the city allows city officials to flag listings for removal if they appear non-compliant.

The spokesperson said the information-sharing platform “verifies host information beyond the registration number, including the address number and the number of nights a listing has been booked on the platform, which allows the city to determine if the registration has expired/invalid and alerts Airbnb.”

Is there anything stopping hosts from uploading fake license numbers?

During the AirTalk segment, Airbnb said nothing.

A listener, Laura at Woodland Hills, told AirTalk that she hosts vacation rentals and, in her experience, Airbnb appears to allow hosts to upload fake license numbers in their listings.

When asked to respond to this claim, Airbnb’s Kalloch said the company requires hosts to enter a license number, and Airbnb can then tell the city which numbers were entered.

“If the city wants to tell us there’s a registration number that’s wrong or they think is expired, they’re certainly able to do that,” Kalloch said.

Vrbo recently agreed to pay $150,000 and provide ongoing compliance reports to the city to settle a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney.

How does the city respond to complaints about illegal listings?

Not well, according to the recent McGill study. He revealed the city missed about $300 million in fines last year due to apparent violations.

A spokesperson for the city’s planning department said that while the department administers the registration program and receives complaints, enforcement duties, including citations and fines, are handled by the housing department. and the Department of Construction and Safety.

“The city has contracted with Host Compliance [a privately-held outside company] to monitor short-term rental listings and identify those that are not registered,” they said. “Once identified, owners of unregistered units receive a warning letter. If the listing remains after 14 days, the listing is queued for citation.

LAist also contacted the Housing Department and the City Buildings and Safety Department. We will update this story if we receive responses from these departments.

How many complaints has the City received?

The McGill study found the city received 4,370 complaints about short-term rentals between July 2019 and August 2022. Common complaint topics included excessive noise, garbage and criminal activity.

Complaints have increased during the pandemic and have been concentrated in neighborhoods such as Venice, Downtown LA and Hollywood Hills.

If the city is slow to react, can neighbors go directly to the docks with complaints?

Airtalk listeners said from their experience that contacting companies such as Airbnb can also be a dead end. An Airtalk listener, Sal in Los Angeles, wrote to say he had contacted both the city and Airbnb about a short-term vacation rental next to his home which he suspects is illegal.

“I reported this to Airbnb, and they did nothing,” Sal said.

Kalloch, Airbnb’s chief policy officer, said in response, “Our job is to help the City of Los Angeles enforce its law… You wouldn’t expect General Motors to write a speeding ticket. And so it’s not us who do the application. We facilitate the application by the city.

An Airbnb spokesperson told LAist via email: “We are in regular contact with the city and are working to address complaints received from residents. Neighbors can submit complaints using our neighborhood tool.” They also noted that many other vacation rental platforms exist outside of Airbnb, which means some illegal listings may need to be handled by different platforms.

Why isn’t the city doing more to enforce its own law?

A spokesperson for the city’s planning department told LAist that the department does not have enough resources to properly run the home-sharing scheme.

They said: “The day-to-day running of the Town Planning Home-Sharing Work Scheme is currently operating with 12 dedicated staff members. The program continues to be under-resourced.

It remains unclear exactly how many illegal listings have been removed from short-term rental platforms due to city enforcement, and what action authorities are taking in response to calls from city council members who want stricter enforcement.

But soon, the departments involved in enforcement may have to pull back the curtain on their efforts. Earlier this month, City Councilman Bob Blumenfield presented a movement calling the services concerned to:

Blumenfield isn’t alone in wanting answers about the city’s apparent lack of law enforcement. New Board Members Hugo Soto Martinez and Eunisse Hernández both tweeted LAist’s story about the McGill study, calling for stricter enforcement.

Airbnb’s Kalloch said the company was able and willing to work with the city on the app changes.

“If there are gaps, and if there are things the city wants to do differently, we are absolutely at the table,” he said.