Long Beach to consider changes to short-term rental rules
The City Council will weigh additional rules and enforcement options for Airbnb’s and other short-term rentals on Tuesday, April 2. Long Beach's City Council is considering changes to its laws regarding short-term rentals, such as Airbnb properties, in response to public concerns about safety and compliance. The proposal comes after a recent shooting at an Airbnb in Long Beach sparked concern among residents. The council will consider several potential changes, including adding new language to clarify the city's existing short rental rules and enforce them. If approved, these changes would strengthen penalties for short-length rentals where violence occurs. The proposed changes would allow the Community Development Department director to cancel a short-time rental license if the property owner does not respond to a violent incident. The ordinance could also be updated to clarify that STRs can't be used for filming or special events without proper permits.
Publicado : hace un mes por Kristy Hutchings en
Long Beach may soon make some changes to its laws that govern how short-term rentals, such as Airbnb properties, operate in the city.
The City Council will weigh whether to add new language to clarify the city’s existing short-term rental rules — and how they can be enforced — following concern from the public about a recent shooting at an Airbnb in Long Beach.
At the council’s Tuesday, Jan. 16 meeting, more than 100 residents gathered to express concern about how short-term rentals impact neighborhood safety after a man was shot at an Airbnb on Kallin Avenue earlier that month.
Fourth District Councilmember Daryl Supernaw, during that meeting, kicked off the request to have city staffers review Long Beach’s existing short-term rental rules — and determine whether any changes could be made to enhance safety and ensure STR operators comply with the city’s laws.
On Tuesday, April 2, the council will consider several potential changes proposed by the Community Development Department, according to a report for the meeting, which are based on “immediately available data, the experience of the Department’s Code Enforcement staff overseeing the Program,” as well as councilmember and public comment from the January session.
“While most STR operators are meeting the standards set forth in the ordinance and operate in a manner respectful to surrounding residents andcommunity,” the staff report said, “violations by even a small number of operators can have significant, pernicious impacts.”
The report also noted that Long Beach has dealt with a “small number” or short-term rental operators who haven’t been responsive to community and city issues — which the proposed ordinance changes also hope to address.
The changes, if approved as is, would strengthen penalties for short-term rentals where violence occurs.
If violence happens on an STR property, the report said, it would “count double” toward the city’s existing rule — which dictates that a rental license will not be renewed if the operator or occupants violate the ordinance three times.
In addition, the proposed changes would allow the Community Development Department director to cancel a short-term rental license if the property owner doesn’t respond to — or remedy — a violent incident, the report said.
Aside from changes to address concerns about safety at short-term rentals, the ordinance could also be updated to clarify that STRs can’t be used for filming or special events without the proper permits.
Short-term rentals booked for periods longer than one month would also still be subject to the ordinance even if they are also listed on sites that offer less than 30 day bookings, the staff report said.
Other proposed changes, the staff report said, include:
• Prohibiting STR operators from knowingly renting to any person banned or removed from a short-term rental in the past five years;
• Clarify that any violation of the rules within the ordinance count toward the three violation trigger for the city to not renew the STR’s license;
• Clarify that other sections of the Long Beach Municipal Code banning hourly or less than one-day use rentals also apply to short-term rentals.
The Community Development Department, in the report, also recommended the council consider some changes to fees relating to short-term rentals — though those would be discussed as part of the 2025 fiscal year budget process.
Those could include increases to STR registration fees, increases to processing fees for petitions to prohibit un-hosted short-term rentals, and adding a “limited proactive and enforcement and site visit program,” to the city’s existing complaint-based enforcement program in an effort to reduce any problems at short-term rentals.
The City Council will weigh whether to approve the proposed changes on Tuesday, April 2. If approved, the updated ordinance will come back to the council for two separate readings before it goes into effect.