The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to notify people and companies who list properties for rent on short-term lodging sites like Airbnb that they are required to pay hotel taxes to the city.
The council instructed the Office of Finance to issue letters to hosts who use such short-term rental sites, detailing the applicable laws, including the transient occupancy tax hotels must pay to the city.
City officials plan to work with the various short-term rental companies operating in the city — such as VRBO and Homeaway — to put together a list of hosts who operate in the city, council aides said.
The most prominent of the companies, Airbnb, released a report last week saying its site was used by about 4,490 Los Angeles hosts during a 12-month stretch from May 2013 to April 2014.
The action today came as some city leaders are calling for additional measures to regulate and tax short-term rental companies.
