It is now illegal for Pomona homeowners to rent their properties on a short-term basis if they don’t actually live there.
The Pomona City Council this month unanimously passed new rules to address complaints about short-term rentals, such as excessive noise, parking problems and trash on surrounding properties.
Under the urgency ordinance adopted Jan. 23, the regulations take effect immediately and the council may extend them within the next 10 months.
For months, residents have complained about raucous, late-night parties, mainly on weekends, at short-term rental houses advertised on websites such as AirBnb and Vrbo for guests seeking a getaway or an event venue.
The parties disrupt neighbors’ sleep, gobble up parking and trash the neighborhood, residents told Councilmember Steve Lustro, who requested the item be placed before the council in October.
The issue became especially noticeable for residents in the Phillips Ranch neighborhood — located in Lustro’s District 5 — where multiple homes that sat empty weekdays become a hotbed for rowdy parties on weekends, according to the councilmember.
A quick online search of rental homes in Phillips Ranch showed overnight stays averaging $700 to 800 per night, Lustro said in an interview this month.
“There was increasing concerns from residents and they didn’t want to see this activity become a common theme here,” Lustro said. “At the very least, we’d like to know that people are actually living in these homes, they’re not just a place for parties.”
To combat the issue, city staff on Jan. 23 presented to the City Council a comprehensive ordinance that would address the concerns by prohibiting un-hosted stays, where the homeowner resides off-site during a guest’s stay.
Most notably, the ordinance establishes a short-term rental license and registration process with eligibility requirements.
This includes that the applicant must have lived in that home for a minimum of 60 days prior to applying for a permit and have received a clearance letter from the city verifying that the property is zoned for residential use.
Short-term rentals in the city will also now be confined to exclusively overnight stays, meaning rentals for weddings, receptions, parties and swimming pool-only rentals will be banned.
Other approved regulations for short-term renal owners include a requirement to provide a 24-hour emergency contact that will respond, on-site if requested, within 30 minutes to complaints about the condition, operation, or conduct of renters or their guests.
There are also specific guidelines for parking as guests will be able to utilize only designated, legal on-site parking spaces, according to the staff report.
Before adopting the new rules, the city required homeowners to apply for a business license and pay a fee based upon gross receipts. Additionally, short-term rental operators were required to pay a bed tax of 10%, as is done by hotels and motels. However, less than half of the short-term rentals advertised in Pomona had obtained a business license and paid their fees, according to the staff report.
In 2022, the city issued citations to 45 owners who were renting their properties without a business license, despite requests to obtain one, or were causing a nuisance. Almost all of the citations were for properties offering un-hosted short-term rentals, according to the city.
As of Thursday, Jan. 26, there were 43 homes with a business license and about 60 more with a business license advertising short-term rentals, Anita Gutierrez, development services director, wrote in an email.
To ensure compliance and capture of taxes, the city contracted with HdL Companies to track and capture any short-term rentals not in compliance with city code.
All homeowners with a current city-issued business license will be required to register and obtain a short-term rental permit within 60 days.
In California, the legality of short-term rentals varies across different cities and even by neighborhood, with the terms of regulations varying widely.
Pomona follows a trend toward short-term rental restrictions seen in other nearby cities, such as Upland and throughout San Bernardino County. Residents in other communities also complained that an increase in short-term rentals resulted in constant disturbances in their neighborhoods.
Lustro hopes the new regulations will put a stop to nuisance complaints in Pomona.
“We would like to have a sense of community and know who our neighbors are,” Lustro said. “Right now these are just ghost homes that sit empty.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct Councilmember Steve Lustro’s district.
