Los Angeles Home-Sharing Ordinance: 120-Day Cap & Hosts Registry

Los Angeles's Home-Sharing Ordinance (HSO), effective November 2019, restricts STR operation to primary residences and caps annual unhosted rental nights at 120. Extended-Home-Sharing status, available after a host has operated compliantly for 12+ months, removes the 120-night cap subject to additional fees and reporting. Multi-family buildings, rent-stabilized units, and vacation-home investments are categorically excluded. The HSO ended LA's prior wide-open Airbnb market and reduced active listings by approximately 60% in its first year. California's state-level non-conformity with federal bonus depreciation adds a tax-strategy nuance unique to California operators.

Licensing & Registration

LA Department of City Planning issues HSO registrations. Application: $89/year + extended-share $850/year for the cap-removal status. Required: primary-residence proof (driver's license, utility bills, voter registration), property tax records, $1M liability insurance, life-safety self-certification (smoke/CO/egress), property tax current. The 120-night cap applies to unhosted nights (host away). Hosted nights (host present, renting rooms) are unlimited under standard registration.

Lodging & Occupancy Taxes

LA Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) 14% on stays under 31 days. California state sales tax does not apply to lodging in most cases (room rentals are exempt; service fees may not be). Effective LA STR lodging tax: 14%. Stays of 31+ days are exempt from TOT. Airbnb collects LA TOT automatically on registered listings. California's state non-conformity with federal bonus depreciation requires state-level depreciation adjustments — federal benefit remains substantial but state depreciation runs on standard MACRS schedule.

Penalties & Enforcement

Operating without HSO registration: $1,000-$2,000 first offense, escalating with offense count. LA actively cross-references Airbnb/Vrbo listings against the registry; unregistered listings face delisting threats from platforms in addition to city fines. Booking platforms face $1,000 per illegal booking. Failure to display HSO registration number on listings is itself fineable.

Recent Changes

2024-2025 enforcement focused on multi-property operators using friends/family as straw owners to circumvent the primary-residence requirement. The city's data-matching capabilities have improved; investors should not assume that tactic works. Extended-Home-Sharing status has been the practical ceiling for serious LA STR operators — one property, host actively present, operating year-round.

Tax Strategy for Compliant Investors

Even within Los Angeles's regulatory framework, properly-licensed STR investors retain the federal tax stack. Cost segregation accelerates depreciation, the STR loophole can convert losses to active-income offsets for materially-participating owners, and 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA applies to all reclassified 5- and 15-year assets. California decouples from federal bonus depreciation, so state-level adjustments apply — but the federal benefit remains substantial. See bonus depreciation explained.

Frequently asked questions