Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

News

LA Sues Hosting Platform Vrbo Over Failure To Enforce Short-Term Rental Rules

A screenshot of the Vrbo search options for Los Angeles.
A screenshot of Vrbo search options for Los Angeles. The L.A. city attorney is suing the vacation rental platform for processing bookings for hosts who haven't registered under the city's short-term rental ordinance.
(
Screenshot
/
LAist.com
)

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. 

The city of Los Angeles is suing the popular vacation rental platform HomeAway.com, now branded as Vrbo, for allowing hosts to book guests without registering under the city's short-term rental ordinance.

The ordinance was passed in December 2018 in an effort to reign in the explosion of vacation rentals made popular with online home-sharing sites like Airbnb.

"It's motivated by the fact that we're in a housing crisis," City Attorney Mike Feuer said of the lawsuit, which was announced Monday. Feuer noted that decreasing housing supply and rising rents largely propelled the ordinance.

"[The home-sharing ordinance] was designed to strike some balance," Feuer said. "And if people are violating it, they're violating that balance, and they're unfairly taking advantage of those who are abiding by the rules."

Support for LAist comes from

L.A. requires property owners to register with the city if they want to rent out their homes for stints of 30 days or less. They must also pay a nightly rental fee to the city and collect transient occupancy taxes from guests. The rules also prohibit owners from renting their homes out for more than 120 days per year.

Booking platforms like Vrbo are required to ensure that hosts are registered with the city and that they don't go over their annual allotment of rental days. Feuer, who's also running for mayor, said the city's planning department gives vacation rental platforms lists of people authorized to rent their homes on a daily basis.

He said Vrbo, unlike some other popular platforms, didn't seem to require hosts to show they've registered with the city before processing a booking. He said around 29% of bookings made in a recent 30-day period appeared to violate the city's rules.

"That suggests that there may be thousands of prohibited transactions that HomeAway has processed since the ordinance took effect," Feuer said.

Rental Transgressions

The lawsuit is the city's first against a rental booking platform since it passed its short-term rental ordinance in December 2018. But hosting platforms have been the subject of legal challenges and ordinances in municipalities throughout the county, in a bid to prevent further problems for the housing market.

Support for LAist comes from

About 22% of short-term rental bookings in L.A. are made through Vrbo, according to Feuer.

The city is seeking an injunction that would prohibit HomeAway from processing any further bookings that violate the short-term rental ordinance. It's also seeking fines of up to $2,500 per violation.

Note: LAist reached out to HomeAway's parent company, Expedia Group, but has not received a reply. We will update this post if and when we hear back.

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.

We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist