Short Term Rental Update 2022

Are you thinking about renting out your home as a short-term rental in San Diego on sites like Airbnb and VRBO? Read on or watch this video, because you may not be able to, and you want to understand all the rules before you invest in that.

If you’re looking at buying a property or just using a property you have as a short-term rental here in the City of San Diego, you need to know some of the rules that have gone into effect recently here in 2022, before you invest in that and maybe get yourself into a bind. The City of San Diego recently passed an ordinance and it was approved by the California Coastal Commission on Whole Home Short-Term Rentals that they’re limiting it to 1% of the total housing supply. What that means is right now in the City of San Diego, only about 5,500 homes can be operated as a whole home short-term rental. Right now there are over 15,000 whole home rentals in the City of San Diego. So it is going to be cut down to 1/3 of the current folks operating as short-term rentals here in San Diego.

There is one particular carve out that is given in the City of San Diego, and that is Mission Beach. They will allow for 30% of the total housing stock in Mission Beach to be short-term rentals. And that’s because there are so many homes that are already being rented as short-term rentals. They’re trying not to completly kill that market. That is in addition to the current cap at 1% of 5,500 homes. 

What will happen is there is going to be a lottery system implemented to try to get the permits to operate as a whole home short-term rental. And if you don’t get it, then you’re out of business.

For those looking to buy and invest newly here in San Diego, short-term rentals are going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible in the City of San Diego. If you’re looking to rent out for less than 20 days a year as a whole home, so you have a home and you go on vacation, you want to rent out the whole home, then you can still do that. If you’re looking to rent out a room or multiple rooms in your home, but you live on the property full time, you can also do that as well. There is no cap on the number of homes that can do that. 

However, you still have to apply for a license in both cases. In all cases, you have to apply for a license. If you’re looking for a whole home to rent out as a short term rental, then that’s going to be very difficult. If you’re looking to make a little extra income off the property own that you live in, then that’s still a possibility for sure. You just have to pay some fees. Now, that being said, how is this going to be enforced? They don’t really know yet, but most likely it’s going to be from complaints from neighbors that are concerned about the short-term operators and then that’ll be enforced somehow. We don’t know exactly how yet, and that’s still being figured out. They’re probably going to create more bureaucracy in the City of San Diego to regulate and enforce this so watch out for that.

Be wary before you invest in short-term rentals in San Diego, unless it’s going to be a primary residence that you’re looking to make a little bit of extra money off of.  Briefly, there are of course, other cities around San Diego that you may be able to still do this. However, certain cities do put restrictions on it. The city of Coronado, for instance, they already have a 30 day minimum lease period. You can’t rent out for less than 30 days.

If you are looking to buy a single family home or a condo, and you want a short term rental without while living there, please hit me up. I’d love to help you with that. Let’s find the best areas to do that in San Diego.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
858-281-2568 | Mobile
mailto:info@sandiegohomes.io
Chism Team | DRE #02105113
brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277