You may remember back in December, Los Angeles approved new laws to regulate short term rentals (mainly targeting AirBnB hosts). These finally come in to effect on July 1, so if you are renting out a room, a condo, a house or any space for 30 days or under make sure you familiarize yourself with the new rules. This will also affect those of you who rent out through our Brits in LA Housing Page on Facebook.
Whilst it may be upsetting for many a landlord to lose such a convenient income stream, I do think the changes will have a positive effect overall, especially for the permanent residents of our city. I live in a large residential complex that has slowly become more of a hotel and now houses only about 30% long term tenants. This is obviously due to the popularity of websites like AirBnB and VRBO which have excelled in corralling globetrotters and convincing householders to share their space with strangers. I completely understand why it is so appealing. Travelers get cheap accommodation and the hosts are attracted by the low commitment and decent revenue that can be generated.
But as a bystander it’s not so fun. It is quite a strange feeling not ever knowing who is living alongside you. But worse is being completely out of sync with your neighbours. Not surprisingly, the ‘guests’ are on holiday, and will often stay up late to ‘make the most of it’, meanwhile I am trying to get some sleep as I have a regular work day ahead of me! But more importantly I do believe it is making the rental market unaffordable for many of us, which as a result means the number of people who are now homeless has risen by 12% in the last 12 months.
I find it shocking and saddening that Los Angeles has programs like Safe Parking LA which provides safe parking areas for the thousands of people who are have no alternative but to live in their vehicles. They are always on the look out for more safe parking lots so if you can help visit www.safeparkingla.org
I imagine that this change in law will affect an awful lot of you, either as a lessor or a lessee? Do the new restrictions worry you? Or will they protect you? Or perhaps like me, you will be relieved to have a break from being a party pooper? We always love to hear your thoughts so please do drop us a line at info@britsin.la.
You spoke and we listened! As Craig mentioned last week we had over 500 comments on a post regarding dating in LA along with several requests for us to organize a Singles Mixer and it looks like it is set for next Wednesday at the Happy Hour at Crustacean in Beverly Hills. Full details will be up on our blog and social media but feel free to drop us an email if you aren’t sure where to look.
Breakfast Club is back as usual next Tuesday so pop in if you are free. We are at Cecconi’s from 9.30-11.30. Then on Tuesday evening Sandro Monetti will be at the Cat & Fiddle hosting the Pub Quiz. So keep an eye on our events page or Twitter feed @BritsinLA. This is where we post last-minute changes and updates.
Lastly, we have a some keyrings promoting the movie Rocketman to give away, so if you would like one just drop us an email with your name and address. We will pick five winners at random on Monday, June 17th.
We look forward to seeing some of you soon!
