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Venice News Updates

News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA

New Short-Term Rental Ordinance Draft Out

Posted by :reta On : April 15, 2016
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Category: Planning, Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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By David Graham-Caso, communications director for Councilman Mike Bonin

LOS ANGELES – After months of work and collaboration with neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles, the Department of City Planning today released a draft ordinance regulating short-term rentals in Los Angeles that will protect both affordable housing and neighborhoods while still allowing people to rent their primary residences for home-sharing.

Councilmember Mike Bonin and City Council President Herb Wesson, who originally proposed the regulations, applauded the draft ordinance.

“This draft ordinance proposes an enforceable system to protect affordable housing and our neighborhoods from rogue hotel operators, while still allowing people to make ends meet by sharing their primary residence,” said Bonin. “I appreciate the hard work of the planning staff and the input of hundreds of neighbors who helped get these smart regulations ready to be considered by the Planning Commission and City Council.”

“From the beginning we sought a solution that balanced the needs of neighborhoods while protecting the city’s affordable housing stock,” said Wesson. “Today we are a step closer to maximizing the L.A. tourist experience while allowing the city to use new transit-occupancy tax revenues to deliver constituent services.”

Under the proposed regulations, people who would like to offer their homes as short-term rentals would need to register as a host with the Department of City Planning, which would include signing up with the Department of Finance to pay Transient Occupancy Taxes to the City. Once registered, hosts would be required to include their registration number on all advertisements for the rental. This would prevent speculators from purchasing entire buildings, evicting tenants, and replacing scarce rental stock with de facto hotels.

Additionally, hosts would not be able to register properties that are under affordable housing covenants or the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, and hosts would only be allowed to register their primary residence for short-term rentals. Finally, hosts would only be allowed to rent their property for a maximum of 90 days a year.

“The draft ordinance establishes clear guidelines for how people can honestly homeshare,” said Bonin. “Even better, the registration process would make it very easy to know if a host is offering a short-term rental that is not allowed under the new rules, which will help the City enforce these new rules and protect affordable housing in our neighborhoods.”

Neighborhood character would also be protected by the draft ordinance, which would make hosts legally responsible for all nuisance violations by their guests. Violations of the ordinance would be a misdemeanor, and the draft outlines financial penalties for listing rentals without a valid registration number or listing a rental for more than 90 days in a year.

The draft ordinance would also place enforcement and reporting requirements on homesharing sites, which would help the City enforce the new rules. Sites would be required to actively prevent listings without a host registration number and they would need to provide a monthly inventory of rentals in the city.

The first public hearing to gather input on the ordinance is being scheduled for Saturday May 21st at 10am at the Deaton Auditorium (100 W 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012). The ordinance will then be considered by the City Planning Commission on June 23rd.

The ordinance can be found at:
http://www.11thdistrict.com/bonin_and_wesson_applaud_draft_short_term_rental_ordinance

There Goes the Neighborhood–Is it Yours?

Posted by :reta On : March 4, 2016
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Category: Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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By Judith Goldman
Judith Goldman is a co-founder of Keep Neighborhoods First, a community group that opposes the widespread commercialization of short-term rentals. She feels Los Angeles needs comprehensive regulations to curb short-term rental abuses

Perhaps no other area of Los Angeles is feeling the intense negative impacts of the short-term rental industry more than Venice.

Most of us have experienced partying vacationers disrupting our streets and impeding safety. It’s no understatement to say they are everywhere. Loud visitors who have little to no regard for the sanctity of our homes and communities have replaced formerly stable streets filled with neighbors we could trust and rely on.

Perhaps even more alarming is that money-hungry landlords are victimizing our longtime neighbors. Young tenants are being intimidated. Senior citizens are being harassed until they agree to relocate. Tenants who have lived in their homes for decades are being forced to wait weeks for repairs. Why? Because landlords can make thousands of dollars more per month by offering an apartment as a short-term rental, and many are doing whatever they can to vacate residents.

Los Angeles is losing many homes once protected under the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance. In Venice in particular, it seems like virtually every apartment complex is involved with short-term rentals in some capacity. Many RSO buildings have been completely cleared out of long-term tenants and are essentially operating as rogue de-facto hotels.

Some landlords are allowing units to sit vacant in order to convert each empty unit into a short-term rental. Remaining tenants face a loss of community, security and, in some cases, available parking. They sit and watch as empty units are upgraded to attract tourists, while their own units sit in disrepair — leading them to eventually give in and move out. Landlords are evading the city’s rent-control regulations to unfairly cash in on higher nightly rates.

Just recently, local media reported a story of two Hollywood residents that had been wrongfully evicted, only to have their units later listed on Airbnb for use as short-term rentals. While these tenants are suing the landlord, we at Keep Neighborhoods First know of many other landlords who are doing the same thing and facing zero repercussions.

Meanwhile, the entire city of Los Angeles is grappling with a severe housing shortage. It is heartbreaking to see affordable housing units taken off the market and converted to short-term rentals by greedy landlords.

We love having visitors in our beach communities. Tourism is one of our biggest economic stimulators, and the increase in illegal de-facto hotels — some of them being purchased by overseas owners —shows that tourism is booming on the Westside.

Do we need additional hotel rooms to accommodate visitors? Perhaps. But let’s study that and create a legal process for moving forward. We must find a balance between tourists’ access to beach communities and the loss of long-term rental housing that threatens community character and cohesion.

Keep Neighborhoods First was formed to protect our neighbors and neighborhoods from abuses. We are working to influence the regulations currently being proposed in Los Angeles. Specifically, we hope city leaders will enact short-term rental regulations that are comprehensive and enforceable.

To get the job done, local government must work with hosts and rental platforms. We are calling for an online registration system that would allow hosts to provide information needed for enforcement, but the city will also need the rental platforms to require that all their hosts register with the city.

Finally, we believe that only a home’s primary residents should be allowed to offer short-term rentals, with a firm prohibition against landlords converting rent-controlled units into short-term rentals.
As similar discussions take place all over the world, Keep Neighborhoods First will continue the fight until the city of Los Angeles adopts regulations that shelter renters from abuses and protect the integrity of our communities. We are counting on our leaders to do this right.

LUPC Meets Monday, 29 Feb, Vera Davis

Posted by :reta On : February 27, 2016
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Category: LUPC, Mello, Short-Term Rentals

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Land Use and Planning Committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council will meet 7 to 11 pm at the Vera Davis Center, 610 California.

CASES SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD:

35 Wave Crest Ave, North Venice Subarea
3018-3025 Washington Blvd (change of use from office [changed from retail] to restaurant with CUB), Southeast Venice Subarea
796 Main St. (“Ado Restaurant”), North Venice Subarea
3128 Thatcher Ave, Oxford Triangle Subarea
1744 Washington Way, Northeast Venice Subarea
619 6th Ave, Oakwood Subarea

There will also be an update on the new Mello Act Ordinance and a proposed motion for the Short-Term Rental enforcement.

News About Town …

Posted by :reta On : November 8, 2015
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Category: AirBnb, Homeless, Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR), Sidewalk Sales

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Sidewalk Sales
http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhall/la-me-sidewalk-vending-dilemma-20151102-story.html

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-adv-street-vendors-20151104-story.html

Short-Term Rentals
Airbnb wins in San Francisco. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-airbnb-analysis-20151105-story.html

Homeless Vets Get Help
http://www.latimes.com/local/westside/la-me-va-stand-down-20151105-story.html

Short-Term Rentals Metastasize

Posted by :reta On : October 25, 2015
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Category: AirBnb, Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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By Darryl Dufay, editor of Voice of Canals
“Free enterprise” in Short-Term Rentals (STR) is alive and well and is moving quickly towards the degrading of the “quality of life” for many.

The big players Airbnb and VRBO and others have overwhelmed us and now another player has entered the scene – the real estate industry’s Multiple Listing Service. The listing does not say Short-Term rentals. The “code” for it is under Terms: Negotiable. Note: A list of a some STR companies is below.

At the other end of the spectrum “boutique” players are joining the race to wealth. Recently received focused advertisements from Vaca “Vacation Rental Management” for Venice and “onefinestay.” It is open season!

Where are we now and what can we expect? Not really clear. Our need is: NO short-term rentals of single-family homes by ABSENTEE owners.

1. STRs are currently illegal in R-1 single-family areas and R-2 zones. The Ordinance was not enforced.

2. STRs of rooms and/or guesthouse of owner occupied homes existed before and will continue to exist.

3. The “big” money is the rental of an entire home. Costs of $600 – 800 per night are common. Money goes to the companies, to the host, and to the City of Los Angeles with a 14% Transient Occupancy Tax “TOT” – the “bed tax.”

4. The “TOT” tax was recently levied by the City Council on R-1 and 2 property. Now some property owners believe they can claim a legal status because the City accepted the tax and that confers a “hotel” status on their property.

5. Noise, parties, loud music, raucous behavior, parking, etc. from STRs with absentee owners overwhelm the neighbors. In their total frustration to try to deal with renters that flow in and out of the community, their final recourse is the LAPD. The LAPD has the desire and responsibility to help, but not the resources. This is a burden that should not be made worse.

6. There is no enforcement now and every indication that this condition will probably not change because the situation is too immense. Having short-term rentals only for owner occupied homes can ameliorate this reality.

We encourage Councilmen Mike Bonin and Herb Wesson to continue to craft a Short-Term Rental Ordinance that protects the people of the neighborhoods while meeting the needs of those owners that have rooms and/or guest houses to rent in their homes.

AirBnB is the Problem, Not Vacation Rentals

Posted by :reta On : October 4, 2015
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Category: Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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By Carl Lambert
AirBnB is to Vacation rentals as Countrywide, Goldman Sachs and AIG were to the financial crises of 2008! AirBnB is all about corporate profits without responsibility. AirBnB is now worth over $5 billion and they have yet to check in a guest, clean one room or willingly pay bed tax!

Vacation Rentals have always been a part of many communities for over a hundred years. Many communities embrace them, Hawaii, Palm Springs, the eastern seaboard and Venice have all had vacation rentals since the dawn of travel. Owners would be responsible and police the guests and pay their taxes. There was a quiet coexistence between the operators and the neighborhood and Cities. Before AirBnB came on the seen four years ago, there were few if any problems in the communities with vacation rentals.

Similarly, before the advent of Easy Qualifier home loans there was responsible home ownership and responsible lenders policed their own loans to insure repayment. Countrywide and Angelo Mozilo, in his words, created the “perfect Box”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Mozilo) Countrywide made irresponsible “Liar loans” to anyone who could breath and AIG would “insure” the loans and Goldman could leverage them up to 18 times and sell them to Wall Street and pension plans around the world. Other responsible lenders had to compete by offering the same. When the homeowner could not repay the loans, the financial markets collapsed and many of the old time responsible lenders failed too.

With the advent of AirBnB, irresponsible people are jumping into the vacation rental market for a quick buck without any skill to properly prepare the room, service and police the guest or pay the tax. AirBnB has created their own “Perfect Box”. AirBnB collects the money for the stay, takes their cut and never has any responsibility to pay the tax or clean the unit or police the guest. The addresses of the properties are not even disclosed so the Cities cannot regulate or supervise the rentals. AirBnB says it is up to the owner to pay the tax and police the guest.

Responsible and professional owners offer a different experience. Responsible owners get the credit card and have information about the guest and establish rules. Managers inform the guest as to responsibilities about parking, parties and other rules. This enables the owner to police and service the guest. If there is a party, the manager reminds the guest that there is a $500 fee for the party and it quiets down. Smoking fee $300. Managers then collect and pay the bed tax. The guest gets to “live like a local”, and have a great experience. The community can have international diversity and is not disturbed. The City gets millions of dollars of tax from responsible owners and ZERO for AirBnB.

Many managers pay a living wage, workers comp and payroll taxes. Some pay medical insurance too. Professional managers have more of a vested stake in the community. They support tourism public safety and help clean up the neighborhood. Everyone wins.

Like Countrywide, AirBnB has created a frenzy of irresponsibility that has created a community backlash with complaints to City regulators. The City regulators can’t find the AirBnB operators so they go after the responsible operators who they can find. So the City regulators try to put responsible owners paying bed tax out of business to say they are doing something. This is part of the “perfect box” because the City is attacking the AirBnB competition! Perfect!

Now that AirBnB is putting the competition out of business, AirBnB can lobby the City and establish rules that only benefit their “Perfect Box”. This is a Ten Billion Dollar corporate money grab. This is like when Goldman realized that the mortgage market was going to collapse, Goldman shorted their own stock and made Billions on the financial misery that they created.

Last Chance–Saturday–Tell Your Story

Posted by :reta On : October 3, 2015
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Category: Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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keep

Tomorrow is the last of three listening sessions where the Department of City Planning will hear from constituents about how to regulate short term rentals.

Airbnb is flooding these meetings with their supporters and we want to make sure REAL neighbors get heard.

Come out and tell the City to keep our neighborhoods for neighbors!

Downtown LA: Saturday, October 3rd, 10am
Lafayette Park Recreation Center
625 South Lafayette Park Pl.
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Please RSVP on Facebook.
If you would like talking points or have any questions, email: Keepneighborhoodsfirst@gmail.com.
Some of the most important things we are asking for

1. All hosts must register and receive a permit to operate a short term rental.

2. All hosts must list their registration number on all advertised listings.

3. Only listings of units that are registered with the city will be allowed.

4. To receive a permit to operate an STR, hosts must agree to disclose information necessary for enforcement.

5. Only owner occupied primary residences permitted. Only one unit per host.

6. Absolutely no rent-stabilized units allowed to rent short term or to be converted to hotel use.

7. Platforms must be held accountable for listing units without permits and must cooperate in the city’s enforcement by disclosure of information deemed necessary to enforce.

8. Individuals in the community will have the right to initiate private legal action.

Planning to Have STR Meet with Residents

Posted by :reta On : September 20, 2015
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Category: Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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STR1png
City Planning is providing those on the Westside an opportunity to provide input for a future ordinance regulating short-term rentals (STR). The meet will be Tuesday, 29 September, 6:30 to 8:30pm at the Mar Vista Park Auditorium, 11430 Woodbine St., LA 90066.

Short-term rentals are rentals for fewer than 30 days. They are also called vacation rentals and home sharing. Venice has more or less adopted the term “short-term rental.”

Keep Neighborhoods First and the Historic Venice Canals organizations have been most vocal regarding the STR. What has occurred in many communities in Venice is a block of houses within a neighborhood being rented on a short-term basis. Others have experienced single-family homes being rented and some turned into party houses. Complete buildings have been converted to short-term rentals. Whatever variation, those opposed claim the rights of homeowners to a peaceful, quiet residential neighborhood-type area is at risk.

Councilman Mike Bonin has more or less spearheaded this “development” that is taking place with City Planning. City Planning wants to write rules and regulations regarding short-term rentals.

Residents of Venice should participate and provide input to make sure Planning has what is needed. Remember enforcement is key to any ordinance drafted.

See Voice of Canals Editor Darryl Dufay’s comments at the end.

Following is the City Planning invitation:

The Department of City Planning would like to invite you and your constituents to one of three (quickly) upcoming community listening sessions we are holding on the issue of short-term rentals, sometimes known as home sharing or vacation rentals. Short term rental is generally defined as a residence or room that is rented to a visitor or guest for less than 30 days.

The three meetings will be held in West Los Angeles, North Hollywood and Downtown on September 29th, October 1st and October 3rd respectively. The meetings will be an opportunity to learn about the issue and provide input that will help shape the City’s regulations regarding short terms rentals.

The City Council has directed the Department of City Planning to hold these meetings and then prepare an ordinance governing short-term rentals in Los Angeles. The motion and specific direction can be found attached to Council File 14-1635-S2.

Also, to help us better understand the various ideas and concerns about short term rentals we have prepared a short questionnaire we would encourage the public to complete. Copies will be available at the listening sessions as well.

If you have any questions about the meetings or the issue of short terms rentals, do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Matthew Glesne, Housing Planner
City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning
Policy Planning and Historic Resources Division: Citywide Unit
200 North Spring Street, Room 667, Los Angeles, 90012
matthew.glesne@lacity.org | 213.978.2666

Darryl Dufay’s comments:

Mike Bonin’s long promised community “listening” sessions on Short-Term Rentals have arrived.

Ours is on Tuesday, September 29th at 6:30 in Mar Vista. See information below.

There is a “short Questionnaire” in the e-mail that we MUST all send in. Question 3 is a major clarification of Mike’s original suggestion that owner of homes should just be allowed to rent their single-family residence when they want to. Note: There is some mixing of the words resident/host, but Q. 7 combines the two, which I believe is used in place of Owner.

Question No. 3 raises our major concern about “absentee” owners. Should short term rental be allowed when the residents is away? If you think the resident/host should always be on site whenever it is rented, check “No, not at all.”

Question No. 4 is linked to 3. If you would allow rentals for a number of days when the owner is away, you can choose from a number of days or put in the number of days you would allow in “Other.”

After you complete the Questionnaire, you just hit the Submit button.

Final Comment: The questionnaire has many of the things we put in our Venice Canals “Community Impact Statement” and items that the Venice Neighborhood Council has spoken about, and concerns that have been raised by other people. It is a good effort to get input. How it will be used is another discussion.

Canals Group Makes STR Impact Statement

Posted by :reta On : September 12, 2015
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Category: Canals, Councilman, Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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The Venice Canals Action Committee recently released a community impact statement addressed to Councilman Mike Bonin regarding short-term rentals that are affecting the small, predominately R-1 canal community. This is the original Venice Canal community that is north of Washington Blvd.

The Venice Update in June of this year carried the story of international attorney and canal resident Ed Rucker’s travail trying to get enforcement of the laws on the book for a non-owner occupied canal property. He finally said he gave up. See Venice Update story. This action points out the importance of not only having a law but appropriate enforcement.

The following is the Venice Canals Impact Statement as produced by Darryl Dufay.

CIS p.1 jpeg

canals3

Keep Neighborhoods First Claims First Victory

Posted by :reta On : August 30, 2015
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Category: AirBnb, Short-Term Rentals, short-term rentals (STR)

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Keep Neighborhoods First claims a Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) committee victory.

“The power and numbers of our articulate attendees shook the Airbnb assurance that it can win our city,” said one spokesman.

As a result of the hearing, the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) committee will initiate public hearings across Los Angeles to determine how our city should regulate STRs.

“Commercial short-term rental operators and the platforms that facilitate their work will revise their strategies, and attempt to halt our momentum. We must continue to show up, and we must be ready for them,” said a spokesperson.

“Here are three things you can do to keep the momentum going:

    1) Share the KNF website and facebook with your friends and family. Have them sign up for our emails. We need to keep gathering allies all over the city.

    2) Keep coming to actions and public hearings. As we demonstrated today, each person makes a tremendous difference. A single compelling story can change everything.

    3) Support Keep Neighborhoods First with a donation. In order to prolong and expand our organizing efforts against a twenty-billion dollar opposition, we’re gonna need some dedicated resources. We need your help to keep the lights on, the information flowing, and our incredible volunteers organized. Please consider chipping in if you can!”