Few knew until recently what a short-term rental (STR) was outside the hotel industry, much less the impact they were having on a city, a neighborhood, a street. It has come to light that this is a big and growing business fueled by the internet.

Councilmen Mike Bonin and Herb Wesson made a motion that was passed in December of last year to get this Short Term Rental market under control in Los Angeles. (See 6 December 2014 Venice Update.)

The City Council took the following actions regarding Short Term Vacation Rentals (STR) 9 December 2014. See: http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2014/14-0600-s89_ca_12-09-14.pdf

1. DIRECT the Office of Finance to send a notice to each host listed on the Airbnb site and all similar sites to inform the hosts of their existing obligation to pay Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).

2. DIRECT the City Administrative Officer (CAO) to identify any existing contractual relationships between cities and Airbnb/Airbnb competitors and report back to the Budget and Finance Committee with a proposal for similar agreements for the City of Los Angeles.