No to New AirBNB: New Policies In Place for Laguna Beach Short Term Rental Properties

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The City of Laguna Beach voted to keep its original policy to officially ban the short term rental of houses or apartments within the city for 30 days or less in residential zones, according to the City Council meeting Tuesday.

The first vote on Aug. 9, the city council voted to ban the controversial practice of short term home exchange or Airbnb rentals. At the Aug. 30 meeting, the decision to reopen the discussion was met with resistance from many residents.

Laguna Beach Republicans were just one group who showed up to state their displeasure of reopening the discussion in force, wearing white and buttons that proclaimed their dis-favor of the practice, ultimately the winning the day with the ban of new permits for short term rentals.

There are restrictions to the policy where short term rentals are allowed. For short term rental properties on the land side of PCH in what are considered commercial zone areas—such as units above the stores on the coastal highway.

The ruling states that Laguna Beach property owners would need to adhere to the following practices in order to rent out their properties that are not in commercial zone areas:

• provide the name and contact information of a person who could be on the site within one hour of a complaint to the city.
• overnight guests will be limited to two per bedroom.
• tenants must be provided with at least two parking spaces.

The 36 permits issued before the moratorium will be grandfathered in, and the ruling will become effective later this month.

Owners who currently have a permit for rentals in residential areas will be grandfathered in and allowed to continue to rent. The original permit will stay with the land in the event of the owner selling that property, according to the ordinance.

Short Term Rentals or Home Exchanges now have strict rules that apply to everything from how many people can stay in a home during such an exchange to noise policies for playing music or partying after 10 p.m. according to the new ordinance.

Read the full ordinance here.

The city is determining how many such units are located in commercial zones, according to Community Development Director Greg Pfost.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Councilman Robert Zur Schmiede was in favor of keeping short-term lodging to commercial areas and avoiding going against the city's general plan.

Allowing short term rentals "would essentially be a policy to convert residential districts into commercial vacation areas over time," Schmiede said.