AGENDA REPORT
Meeting Date: January 28, 2025
Item Number:
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Chloe Chen, Principal Planner
Masa Alkire, AICP, Assistant Director of Community Development / City Planner
Attachments: 1. Draft Urgency Ordinance for Emergency Short Term Rentals (Ordinance No. 25-O-2908)
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council continue this item to a date uncertain, due to the recent action taken by the City Council regarding emergency short term rentals at a special meeting on January 16, 2025. At this meeting, the City Council adopted an urgency ordinance (Ordinance No. 25-O-29081
, Attachment 1) to temporarily suspend the City’s
short term rental regulations for a 90-day period (ending April 16, 2025) in order to help provide immediate housing for those displaced and/or impacted by the January 2025 Los Angeles County Fires in neighboring jurisdictions.
Prior to the current emergency situation, the City Council had previously provided direction for staff to review the City’s permanent short term rental regulations due to concerns over adverse impacts that have been occurring within the residentially zoned areas of the City as a result of short term rental operations. Based on this direction, the Planning 1 Urgency Ordinance No. 25-O-2908 was adopted and became effective on January 16, 2025. However, Attachment 1 is noted as a “draft” because the urgency ordinance is currently pending signatures, and a finalized copy is not yet available.
Subject: REQUEST TO CONTINUE TO A DATE UNCERTAIN THE FIRST
READING OF A DRAFT ORDINANCE AMENDING SHORT TERM
RENTAL REGULATIONS (TRANSIENT USES) FOR SINGLE FAMILY
AND MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL ZONES
Meeting Date: January 28, 2025
Commission reviewed this topic at an August 8, 2024 study session and a November 14, 2024 hearing where the Planning Commission adopted a resolution recommending amendments to the City’s short term rental regulations to the City Council. It is recommended that the City Council’s review of permanent short term rental regulations be postponed to a future hearing date uncertain.
INTRODUCTION
None.
DISCUSSION
None.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
Michael Forbes, AICP
Director of Community
Development
Approved By
Attachment 1
Draft Urgency Ordinance for Emergency
Short Term Rentals (Ordinance No. 25-
O-2908)
B0785-0001\3066639v1.doc
ORDINANCE NO. 25-O-2908
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS TO
SUSPEND SHORT-TERM RENTAL RESTRICTIONS TO
ADDRESS THE IMMEDIATE NEED FOR SHORT-TERM
HOUSING AS A RESULT OF THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY
FIRES AND WINDSTORM EVENT OF JANUARY 2025 AND
DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF, AND FINDING THE
ORDINANCE EXEMPT FROM THE CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA)
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS HEREBY ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
WHEREAS, the Los Angeles County Fires and Windstorm Event of January 2025 has burned over 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,000 residential and commercial structures, and damaged critical infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, on January 7, 2025, the Governor of California declared a State of Emergency to exist in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties due to the Fires and Windstorm Event; and
WHEREAS, thousands of Los Angeles County residents have had their lives significantly impacted through partial or complete property loss, damage or evacuation orders, and
WHEREAS, while the City of Beverly Hills has escaped the path of the fires, neighboring cities have been adversely impacted and neighboring residents will require safe and secure housing while they rebuild their lives; and
WHEREAS, the City of Beverly Hills believes that temporarily suspending the City’s restrictions on short-term housing rentals would provide urgently needed shelter and housing to victims of the Fires and Windstorm Event; and
WHEREAS, in the interest of the public peace, health or safety, it is necessary for the City Council to exercise its authority to adopt this urgency ordinance to ensure the physical and mental health and safety of displaced fire victims through adequate housing.
Section 1. Urgency Declaration. Based upon the recitals above, the City Council finds that this Ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety. Housing stability is essential for good health and provides a physical and psychological foundation upon which fire victims can begin the long process of recovery. The City Council finds and determines that the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety requires that this Ordinance be enacted as an urgency ordinance pursuant to Government Code Sections 36934 and 36937(b) and take effect immediately upon adoption. This Ordinance must be adopted and -2-
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must become effective immediately in order to adequately respond to the immediate loss of housing created by the Fires and Windstorm Event.
Section 2. This ordinance shall suspend the existing short-term rental restrictions of the Beverly Hills Municipal Code. The suspension of the short-term rental restrictions shall be subject to the conditions set forth in the Sections below.
Section 3. The ordinance shall be effective for ninety (90) days from the date of adoption and may be extended for a maximum of ninety (90) days by the City Manager.
Section 4. Under the terms of this ordinance, a “short-term rental” is defined as a rental for fewer than thirty (30) days of a multiple-family dwelling unit and a rental for fewer than six (6) months of a single-family dwelling, or portion thereof, accessory dwelling unit (“ADU”), or guest house.
Section 5. Upon expiration of this ordinance a landlord may not advertise or enter into a new short-term rental under the terms of this ordinance. However, nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit a landlord and tenant from completing the duration of a short-term rental agreement entered into while this ordinance is in effect.
Section 6. For single-family dwellings or portions thereof, ADUs, and guest houses which have been rented in the past twelve (12) months, landlords are prohibited from increasing the price of rental housing by more than ten percent (10%) of the rental price, as defined in Penal Code Section 396.
Section 7. For single-family dwellings or portions thereof, ADUs, and guest houses not rented or advertised for rent within the past twelve (12) months prior to the declaration of emergency, the rental price cannot exceed one hundred sixty percent (160%) of the fair market value of the rental housing as established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and found at:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2025_code/select_Geography.odn This amount may be increased by 5%, if the single-family dwellings offered for rent are fully furnished.
Section 8. For non-rent stabilization ordinance (“non-RSO”) multiple-family dwelling units, the daily rate cannot exceed the rental price, as defined in Penal Code Section 396, divided by thirty (30) plus ten percent (10%).
Section 9. For rent stabilization ordinance (“RSO”) units, the daily rate cannot exceed the rental price, as defined in Penal Code Section 396, divided by thirty (30) plus ten percent (10%).
Section 10. RSO applicability is suspended for short-term rental units subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.
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Section 11. Transient Occupancy Tax (“TOT”) is suspended for short-term rental units and hotels subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.
Section 12. Business tax is suspended for properties that do not lawfully have a valid 2024 business tax registration certificate from previous short-term rental or normal rental units.
Section 13. All listings for short term rentals in multiple-family dwelling units, and all listings for short-term rentals in single-family dwelling units, must include a statement that:
“Per City of Beverly Hills Ordinance No.___________, the unit may only be rented to a household displaced as a result of the Los Angeles Fires and Windstorm Event of January 2025.” Section 14. A renter must submit evidence to the landlord in the form of a government issued ID, utility bill, bank statement, or other document with name and address to confirm one of the following.
a. The renter lives in an area that is currently under an evacuation order or warning; or
b. The renter lives in an area that was previously under an evacuation order and the renter is unable to return home at this time.
Section 15. Upon renting a unit, the landlord must submit the following information to the City on a form provided by the City, within three business days of the commencement of the short-term rental:
• Address of unit
• Type of unit (e.g., Single-Family, Multi-Family, ADU) • Number of bedrooms
• Square footage
• Website/platform used for rental, if any
• Link to or copy of rental listing
• Dates rented
• Number of tenants
• Name of primary tenant
• Home address of tenant
• Documentation showing home address of tenant
• Reason for tenant displacement
• Documentation of the most recent monthly rental rate charged, when applicable • Documentation of the most recent monthly rental rate advertised, when applicable
• Signature under penalty of perjury that the rental amount charged complies with these requirements and the tenant qualifies per these requirements • Information deemed reasonable by the City Manager
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Section 16. Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit the rental of a single-family dwelling or portion thereof or a multiple-family dwelling unit, in full compliance with the Beverly Hills Municipal Code.
Section 17. Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be considered a separate, distinct and independent provision and such holding shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of this Ordinance.
Section 18. Publication. The City Clerk shall cause this Ordinance to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated in the City within fifteen (15) days after its passage in accordance with Section 36933 of the Government Code, shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance and shall cause this Ordinance and the City Clerk’s certification, together with proof of publication, to be entered in the Book of Ordinances of the Council of this City.
Section 19. Effective Date. This Ordinance is adopted as an urgency ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Government Code Section 36937(b), and therefore shall be passed immediately upon its introduction and shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by a minimum 4/5 vote of the City Council.
Section 20. Certification. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance.
Adopted: January 16, 2025
Effective: January 16, 2025 LESTER J. FRIEDMAN
Mayor of the City of Beverly Hills,
California
ATTEST:
(SEAL)
HUMA AHMED
City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM: APPROVED AS TO CONTENT:
LAURENCE S. WIENER NANCY HUNT-COFFEY
City Attorney City Manager