Amid an affordable housing crisis, dozens of rent-controlled buildings are listed on short-term rental websites. A 2018 law was supposed to stop that, but the city is struggling to enforce it.
It doesn’t help that the same law that allows you to build a small back house (which would be a good short term rental but is no longer allowed to be one) also turns your main house into a rent controlled building.
I’m creating housing, and the city is punishing me. I can’t use the new building I put in my backyard as a short term rental due to the law, and now my main house is also converted into a rent controlled building if I want to rent it out when I retire and move out of California. I get wanting to stop the loss of housing that happens when landlords turn existing rentals into short term rentals, but I’m creating something new specifically for the purpose. I don’t have a big yard and don’t have the space to build a nice apartment for someone to rent long term, but I would like to be able to make some money with something I built (literally with my own hands) and that wouldn’t exist if I didn’t sacrifice my own backyard for it. But I can’t without allowing someone to have long-term access to my property and with very strong legal protections from being evicted. And to top it off, now my main house will be controlled by the city because I added this building.
And they don’t advertise that little rule anywhere.
It doesn’t help that the same law that allows you to build a small back house (which would be a good short term rental but is no longer allowed to be one) also turns your main house into a rent controlled building.
I’m creating housing, and the city is punishing me. I can’t use the new building I put in my backyard as a short term rental due to the law, and now my main house is also converted into a rent controlled building if I want to rent it out when I retire and move out of California. I get wanting to stop the loss of housing that happens when landlords turn existing rentals into short term rentals, but I’m creating something new specifically for the purpose. I don’t have a big yard and don’t have the space to build a nice apartment for someone to rent long term, but I would like to be able to make some money with something I built (literally with my own hands) and that wouldn’t exist if I didn’t sacrifice my own backyard for it. But I can’t without allowing someone to have long-term access to my property and with very strong legal protections from being evicted. And to top it off, now my main house will be controlled by the city because I added this building.
And they don’t advertise that little rule anywhere.