By Garth Meyer
A new effort is underway in Redondo Beach to curtail short-term rentals. More than 500 letters were sent out in the past two weeks to property owners of addresses listed for rental of less than 30 days.
The practice has long been illegal in Redondo Beach, though enforced only by complaints.
“We’ve had the ban forever but we came to realize there was a lot of short-term rentals going on here,” said Mayor Jim Light.
The addresses come from a database gathered by Deckard Technologies (San Diego), which the city council approved a year-long contract with in June.
After two short-term rental owners spoke at the Oct. 7 Redondo Beach city council meeting, telling of how they have rented a room in their house for short stays while they remain on site, the council will discuss potential exceptions to the rule in the coming weeks.
Nonetheless, many short-term listings in Redondo appear to be otherwise.
“There’s a steady stream of complaints,” said Police Chief Joe Hoffman. “The residents have spoken and the council has taken action.”
The previous city council voted to seek out a consultant such as Deckard, at the time of a burgeoning market for rentals after the January fires near Los Angeles.
“This is a proactive sweep to let people know that they have options for their rental properties to become legal,” Mayor Light said.
To do that, owners may remove the listing, or offer it only for more than 30 days at a time.
“We’d like to get them off the market, to open them up for long-term housing. If we don’t, we will be watching for traffic,” Light said. “We’ll react based on feedback from (RBPD) code enforcement.”
Aside from the 500-plus listings found by Deckard, another potential 500 are yet to be gathered, according to Chief Hoffman.
“Before, we didn’t have a reliable way to know who the owners are – a lot were under different names and LLCs – now we have this contract to actually work to identify the owners,” the chief said.
If owners disregard the letter, another version of it may be sent, as the city looks to purge the list. If a report reaches the city prosecutor’s office, misdemeanor charges may be filed with a maximum penalty of six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.
The two short-term rental owners who spoke to the council Oct. 7 said that years of renting a room in their house for short durations – often to travelers from around the world – have been key to paying their mortgage.
Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., asked one if she had tried to list it at 30 days or more.
“The problem is you don’t get that many,” said Vickie Castaldi. “I changed my calendar to that (after receiving the letter). I’m not getting any interest at all.”
Mayor Light told Easy Reader later that he was “not aware renting a single room was even done on these apps. The testimony of the two women who spoke is something the council must consider,” he said. “That said, it has never been legal in Redondo and I doubt they paid (transit occupancy tax). It would be tough to write an ordinance to precisely include their specific situations without opening up a big loophole that could be abused by others.”
The mayor maintains that moving short-term rentals toward long-term is in the interest of the city.
“I support the ban. We’re in a housing (crisis) and short-term rentals keep properties off of the market, that could be long-term housing.”
“We want to have those 500 units for people looking to rent, so we have full-time residents,” said City Councilman Brad Waller. “Shopping in our city, enjoying the benefits of Redondo Beach.”
Laws on short-term rentals differ from city to city.
“Our goal is to educate all of the property owners here,” Chief Hoffman said. “The goal is to not have to take any enforcement action. The municipal code is pretty clear: no short-term rentals in Redondo Beach.” ER
The City should exempt OWNER-OCCUPIED room rentals from its ban. A retired teacher made a strong argument that onsite owners renting bedrooms pose either no threat, or a very manageable one. She will now have hardship in making her budget.
I am sure the Council will look at it. But it would be difficult to write an ordinance that would preclude abuse. How do we validate that the owner has not in essence created a duplex? How do we ensure the person renting out the room is both an acruel occupant and owner? It complicates enforcement substantially.
I am not quite buying that someone cannot find a long term renter. When I moved here in the Air Force, I could not afford a place on my own on my military salary, so, like most other junior officers at the time, I got roommates. I did that nearly everywhere the military moved me – sometimes with other AF officers, at other times with locals. Our daughter also had long term roommates when she first moved out. I see ads for long term roommates on social media. All sorts of people are looking for a place to live in our area. So I don’t think long term roommates are all that difficult to find.