The Brief

Airbnb, Vrbo, and other short-term rental hosts will need to follow new regulations by this fall for properties in the unincorporated areas of the county, which spans more than 2,650 square miles and is home to about a million people.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the set of rules Tuesday, and they’ll go into effect 180 days from now, in mid-September.

The regulations aim to strike a balance between the amount of long-term housing and the quality of life in those neighborhoods, with the financial benefits to short-term rental hosts, according to a treasurer and tax collector letter to the board.

What hosts need to know 

Hosts will be required to register with the county and pay an annual fee of $914.

A subsidy may be available during the first year for lower income homeowners looking to earn extra income with rentals. County officials said they planned to further discuss options for those homeowners.

Other rules include:

• ADUs, guesthouses, vacation homes, recreation rooms, or boats cannot be listed as short-term rentals. Hosts will be limited to renting out their primary residence only.
• Hosts cannot run more than one short-term rental in these areas at a time, and they cannot accept more than one booking per night. 
• All short-term rentals must be 30 consecutive days or less, with minimum booking requirements depending on if the host is staying on the property while guests are there.
• A maximum of 12 people are allowed per reservation, and the rentals cannot be used to host parties, commercial events, corporate banquets, or anything with an admission fee.

How will it be enforced?

If a short-term rental property is out of compliance, the host could get their registration revoked by the county, and they’d be required to cancel any future bookings and take down their listings.

For each violation, hosts may also face a $2,000 fine per day, or two times the average nightly rate charged, whichever is higher.

They can also file an appeal for fines, fees, or a notice of noncompliance with the county.

If Airbnb, Vrbo, or other hosting platforms don’t verify the short-term rental registration number issued by the county for each property, or if they don’t have it listed on all of those advertisements, the companies could be fined $1,000 per day, per violation.

What opponents say

Opponents argue the regulations are unnecessary and are unfair to hosts and landlords.

Michele Zack, who identified herself as a 10-year Airbnb host in Altadena, said during public comment that hosting provides income for her and her husband, who are both retired.

“We provide an important service to Altadena, which doesn’t have a single hotel room,” she said. “We are not converting apartment buildings to Airbnbs. We are not absentee landlords for party houses.”

Jeremiah Small called the rules a de facto ban on short-term rentals in a written public comment.

“This ordinance is a draconian restriction on small businesses in unincorporated L.A. County,” Small wrote in a public comment. “It is bad for residents and bad for local businesses.”

What supporters say

Proponents say the county needs to do all it can to protect long-term housing for residents, and short-term rentals make neighborhoods less affordable for everyone.

Andrew Davidov, who lives in District 1, said in a written public comment that un-hosted short-term rentals, which is when a host is not staying at the property with guests, takes up valuable housing that would otherwise be available to people looking to live in the area.

“The [regulations] will help safeguard housing for our families and friends who want to remain in the L.A. communities they love,” Davidov wrote in a public comment.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Duane “Keffe D” Davis is set to be sentenced Tuesday for orchestrating the murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur, who was gunned down off the Las Vegas Strip over 30 years ago.

Davis, 63, was convicted in August of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is the only person ever charged in the death of Shakur, whose popularity was peaking at age 25. Davis faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On the night of Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW with music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up at a red light, and shots erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived.

Shakur is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time and had a burgeoning film career as an actor at the time of his death. His legend has only grown since. His songs still resonate among fans with themes of hardship, love and Black struggles.

The killing went unsolved for years until Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, gave interviews and published his role in the shooting in his 2019 tell-all memoir. He explained how Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting in Las Vegas. He said he sought retaliation, and that he was in the passenger seat of the Cadillac and passed the gun to the backseat, where shots were fired. Davis had spoken to detectives years before but avoided prosecution because of an agreement he made with law enforcement.

During the weekslong trial, prosecutors relied on Davis’ own statements he made to law enforcement and documentarians. They argued Davis orchestrated the shooting and provided the gun used in Shakur’s death, which was the result of a rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru. Davis’ defense attorney pointed to a lack of physical evidence that connected his client to the 30-year-old crime, and he portrayed Davis as a liar who was trying to make money.

After nine days of hearing testimony in August, the jury deliberated for three hours before turning over the guilty verdict. Davis said in court that he plans to appeal.

Shakur was an icon, a brother

Shakur’s family is expected to speak at the sentencing, including his siblings Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur and Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur.

Following the verdict, prosecutor Binu Palal said that to many people, Shakur was an icon or an idea, “but to the family, Tupac Shakur was a brother, a son, a cousin, a loved person ripped from them 30 years ago.”

Palal said the family had to sit through years of Davis “bragging about killing someone they loved.”

“They loved that man. And the arrogance that Mr. Davis had in expressing his joy in killing that man ultimately was his undoing,” Palal said.

Prosecutors say they have insufficient evidence to charge anyone else

Davis is the only person to be charged and convicted in the killing of Shakur. The three other people who allegedly were in the Cadillac — including Davis’ nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson who Davis said was the one who pulled the trigger — have died.

Sean “Diddy” Combs and his alleged role were brought up often throughout the trial. Witnesses testified Combs used members of the South Side Compton Crips for security for Bad Boy Records. In his book and public statements, Davis alleged Combs offered him money to kill Shakur and Knight. Combs, who is serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of prostitution-related offenses, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the death of Shakur.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said his office doesn’t believe it has sufficient evidence to charge anyone else.

“But like any other case, if we come into more information, more evidence, we can always consider filing additional charges,” he said following the guilty verdict. “But today, we don’t believe that’s the appropriate move to make.”