In an agreement with Airbnb vendors in Los Angeles, the City Council approved a plan to create a compliance platform with the company under the city’s short-term rental ordinance.
The platform will streamline the registration process for hosts, promote compliance and will automate enforcement, Airbnb representatives said.
“We are constantly innovating our tools and approach to support local cities in their efforts to legitimize home sharing,” said John Choi, Airbnb’s public policy manager. “This is an important milestone, and we believe this new system will serve as a model for other cities looking to
leverage technology and partner with Airbnb to legitimize home sharing. We look forward to working alongside city staff in the coming months to develop, build and launch our most advanced compliance system to date.”
The registration system will enable Airbnb and the city to verify a listing’s registration status. This will reduce administrative costs and prevent those in violation of the city’s short-term rental laws from listing on the Airbnb platform, the company’s representatives said.
The city’s regulation of short-term rentals such as Airbnb took effect last Friday and mandates that only primary residences can be rented short- term — meaning homes where the host lives at least six months out of the year — and requires them to list units for rent on a city-monitored system.
A pilot program allowing for units designated as rent-stabilized is currently being created for home-sharing as well.
Before the laws went into effect, Airbnb asked for more time to adjust to the new system that would track their units. At the time, it said complying by Nov. 1 would have not been feasible.
Under the agreement, a hosting website must display a link to the city’s website to apply for a city registration number as part of the listing creation process.
