Battle Royale At City Hall Tonight Over Vacation House Rentals
Written by 991KBU on September 26, 2018
B and Bs.
Vacation rentals.
A part of Malibu for decades … but exploding because of the Internet.
Two sides are squaring off for a battle royale at Malibu City Hall this evening.
On one side … residents in some neighborhoods who have seen their streets turn into motel parking lots.
On the other … homeowners who have rented out houses for years … with no complaints and no reason to think that government would overturn their right to do rental business.
And there’s a third side … the California Coastal Commission …. which is very keen on ensuring public access to the coast.
Landlords…. like Heikki Kettola … look at the proposed city ordinance and say it would place too many expenses on the landlord .
The overnight rental owner says the city is piling up redundant and unfair charges on homeowners … like the proposal to force rental owners to have their septic systems inspected once a year.
NEWSCART 778— KETTOLA BBB :31
QQQ: RENTS FOR 31 THERE ARE NO RULES.
“If your septic is pumped more than twice or three times in 180 days, that gets automatically reported to the city and they can do something.
“Now they want to do an extra inspection once a year, which costs money, where they get the information anyway.
So that is totally redundant … and it is selective enforcement.
If a host rents for 30 days they have to get these inspections … but if the rent for 31 … there are no rules.”
Kettola says past data shows that only a few overnight houses trigger complaints from neighbors … and that funding a 66 thousand dollar per summer patrol car to respond to complaints will be a waste of money.
On the other side … Michael Lustig …a renter on Malibu Road.
He has seen neighbor after neighbor moving out along the beach … only to be replaced by overnight rentals and the different neighbor every two or three nights.
So far … Lustig and his arguments have largely prevailed with the city planning commission and the city council.
The officials have largely agreed with many of the restrictions that Lustig and other anti-overnight rental advocates have made.
But Lustig says the city staff has sabotaged those instructions … and over again removed the restrictions … asked for the the commissioners and city council members.
NEWSCART 77833 LUSTIG AAAA :14
QQQ MORE THAN LOBBYING.
“It became apparent to me in the last week, in looking at the documents, that Air B and B, the corporation, is inside our Malibu City Hall, doing more than just lobbying.”
Michael Lustig says the current proposed ordinance needs to be modified … so that bed and breakfast can only be offered in the traditional bed and breakfast setting … a spare room in a house that is occupied by the landlord.
He says the current ordinance falls far short of that.
NEWSCART 77835 LUSTIG BBBB :13
QQQQ: YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE IS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED.
“If this thing passes, you are screwed.
“If you are a homeowner, and I’m not one. I’m a renter, but of you are a homeowner, your qualIty of life is about to be destroyed.
Why so dire?
Lusting says the city planners who are drafting the ordinance are not paying attention as to how air B&B and other big companies are evolving.
NEWSCART 77834 LUSTIG CCCC :30
QQQQ: GOING TO BE ALL KINDS OF THINGS.
“Two years ago they told the city they are only an intermediary, but now they have branded apartment buildings and dozens of products, and now they have a hudnred new products in the pipelines.
And those products are going to be about creating additional revenue streams for them and building businesses on top of them.
So it’s not going to be a rental.
It’s going to be a yoga studio with 16 cars coming at all times
of day, it’s going to be all kinds of things.”
Lustig wants overnight rentals banned … all of them … in Malibu.
Back in the landlord business … Heikki Kettola says there is Little middle ground.
NEWSCART 77836 KETTOLA CCCC :23
QQQ: ANY EVIDENCE OF THAT
“I’ve met with Michael Lustig, and he seems to be very passionate and so on.
“And he thinks, and many other people think — that there is a lot of corporations who buy into Malibu market and start operating short term rentals.
“In the data that I have, I don’t have any evidence of that.”
One thing that both sides due agree on however … is the likelihood that the ordinance will drive some overnight rental owners underground.
Michael Lustig mentions the possibility of air B&B going into the yoga business … to skirt the city restrictions on overnight rentals.
Heikki Kettola hypothesizes the same thing.
NEWSCART 77832 KETTOLA DDD :
“Heh heh … one thing … you know … I started thinking … that if I were to go underground … I don’t do short term rentals anymore.
“I have a yoga enlightenment seminars here.
“They are self-directed and you try to find enlightenment on your own.
“And if it’s too late to go home … yeah .. you can stay overnight for free.
The B and B ordinance …the short term residential rentals ordinance … goes before the Malibu city council at 5 tonight … at City Hall.
