LA’s new Airbnb rules bar short-term rentals of second homes and some apartments

A resident expressing their view about short-term rentals at the Ellison building in Los Angeles' Venice neighborhood in September 2018. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

New restrictions on Airbnb and similar services in Los Angeles went into effect this week, driven by complaints that an explosion of short-term rentals has turned apartment buildings into hotels and pinched the city’s already tight housing supply. 

In a 2017 report, the city’s planning department said between 6,000 to 10,000 units that otherwise likely would have been rented to long-term tenants were being used primarily as short-term rentals.