Latest tweak to proposed L.A. rules on Airbnb-type rentals alarms tenant activists

To stop apartment buildings from being turned into “rogue hotels,” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin put forward a plan. “If you pass a law that only addresses one part of the industry, it doesn’t work … Traditional vacation rentals have been in L.A. for generations.” Airbnb, in turn, has cautioned the city it would not enter into a “pass through” registration system that could forward host information to the city unless L.A. included vacation rentals, according to a report from the planning department. Connie Llanos, a deputy policy manager for the company, said Airbnb is not pushing for the city to allow vacation rentals without restriction, but that L.A. needs to have a “comprehensive policy” that recognizes and regulates part of the industry that predates platforms like Airbnb. City officials said their goal would be to pass the ordinance on vacation rentals by July — the same date that the regulations on renting out primary residences were initially intended to take effect. Cynthia Strathmann, executive director of the tenant advocacy group Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, said she was worried that allowing vacation rentals would “create a way for people to do exactly what they’re doing now — having residences in Los Angeles that they don’t live in, that they’re renting out like hotel rooms, so they can’t be used as part of the housing stock.” If the city is going to delay the rollout of the new rules indefinitely, Strathmann said, it should step up enforcement of its existing laws.