Inspectors cited the owner for changing the building’s use without a permit. They warned him again the next year. But after that, housing inspectors appeared to drop the matter, even as they ordered the owner to correct other building code violations. A few years later, in 2020, a tenant complained that 14 of the 21 units were listed on Airbnb.

Start giving these parasites prison sentences and huge fines and we’ll see them change their tune.

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.

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