LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Airbnb today announced a new compliance system to help the city of Los Angeles enforce its home-sharing ordinance and support tourism growth.
The system will streamline the registration process for hosts, promote compliance and automate city enforcement.
“Short-term rentals are a vital piece of Los Angeles' visitor economy, and we are committed to being a long-term partner to the city to help welcome the millions of people who visit every year,'' said John Choi, a public policy manager with Airbnb. “We believe this new system will serve as a model for other cities looking to leverage technology and partner with Airbnb to capture the economic benefits of home-sharing.''
Los Angeles adopted a home-sharing ordinance in December 2018 that allows hosts to share their own homes year-round and preserves their ability to benefit from the more than 50 million visitors who travel to the region every year.
The compliance system will facilitate the sharing of limited listing information between Airbnb and Los Angeles to verify a listing's registration and number of nights booked.
Unregistered listings will be removed from the Airbnb platform in compliance with the city's home-sharing ordinance, Airbnb stated, which previously removed listings in rent controlled units, affordable housing units and listings subject to the Ellis Act.
As the city works to address the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, short-term rentals will continue to play an important role in the efforts to drive meaningful economic activity to every corner of Los Angeles, Airbnb stated.
In 2019, Airbnb hosts welcomed more than 2 million guests to Los Angeles.
Airbnb guests in turn support local communities outside traditional tourist zones and have generated more than $180 million in transient occupancy taxes to help fund city services since August 2016, when Airbnb began collecting and remitting TOT on behalf of hosts.
While the new compliance process provides clarity and stability for our hosts, it also opens the door for the city to fully legitimize and regulate its longstanding vacation rental market,'' Choi said. “We hope our investment to develop this first-of-its-kind technology here in Los Angeles signals our long-term commitment to being a responsible partner to the city and all of its stakeholders.''
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