ORINDA — No-host short-term housing rentals are banned in this city, the City Council has decided, making a temporary rule permanent.
The prohibition on no-host rentals comes just weeks after a man was shot and killed during a house party at an Airbnb in Sunnyvale and nearly two years after five people died in a mass shooting killed five people during a Halloween party at another Airbnb in Orinda.
Any host also will have to own and live at the property as their primary residence, to be physically present throughout the rental and guests must stay at least two days.
The rules were first put into place as an urgency ordinance following the deadly shooting at 114 Lucille Way.
The council is expected to give final approval to the regulations during a second reading Sept. 7.
“When we think back to the horror of that tragedy (on Halloween in 2019), maybe it seems long ago and far away, given the last year-and-a-half of all our lives,” Councilwoman Darlene Gee said Aug. 3, when the council unanimously gave initial support for the requirements to become permanent. “The reality is that was an incredible moment in Orinda’s history. And obviously a heartbreaking one.”
No one from the public spoke on short-term rentals during the meeting.
It was in contrast to when the council met just days after the Holloween shooting, when an overflow crowd of more than 200 people turned out, with about 50 speakers demanding tighter regulation of the rentals.
“This is really just an extension of the way the community came together in a terrible time of tragedy in 2019,” Councilwoman Inga Miller said.
Along with updating the rules for short-term rentals, the ordinance will aim to put added pressure on hosting platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway, including requiring them to make sure that anyone posting a rental includes a city registration number in their listing.
“That will allow us very quickly to confirm that the listing is registered and also identify the address of that listing,” Planning Director Drummond Buckley told the council.
It will “help make sure the rules are followed,” Buckley said.
Violations of the ordinance can result in fines from $250 to $1,000.
If adopted in September, the rules would become permanent in October. The additional regulations regarding the hosting platforms would take effect in January.
The move to make the rules permanent comes as one man was shot and killed and another injured Aug. 7 in Sunnyvale, at least the fourth shooting at an Airbnb party house in Northern California in less than two years.
Airbnb has said it will pursue legal action against the person who threw the Sunnyvale party, which reportedly attracted up to 200 guests.
At the time of the killings in Orinda, 44 short-term rentals were registered with the city. As of earlier this month, the city had 20 registered properties, according to Orinda officials. The city charges a $254 registration fee, which is valid for one year.
In 2017, Orinda adopted an ordinance regulating short-term rentals after a 21-year-old man was almost beaten to death at a 2016 house party, according to city officials.
That policy did not differentiate between hosted and non-hosted rentals, however. It also did not require the owner to be present when the property was rented, plus it did not set a minimum amount of time for the rental.
Since the Orinda urgency ordinance was adopted, the city has received three short-term rental complaints — one about the number of people at a residence and the other two complaints about rentals that allegedly happened without a host being present on the property.
"term" - Google News
August 22, 2021 at 08:05PM
https://ift.tt/3z9gNWR
Short-term rental providers face stricter rules in Orinda - East Bay Times
"term" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35lXs52
https://ift.tt/2L1ho5r
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Short-term rental providers face stricter rules in Orinda - East Bay Times"
Post a Comment