L.A. City Attorney targets alleged $4 million illegal short-term rental scheme

The city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit Thursday against a group of people who allegedly earned more than $4 million running an illegal short-term rental enterprise.

City Attorney Heidi Feldstein-Soto said her office is trying to address “massive scale violations” of the Short-Term Rental Ordinance and state rent stabilization laws, which she said are harming the already-struggling affordable housing market.

According to the complaint, the defendants allegedly leased 30 apartments and houses on a long-term basis, then illegally rented them out on Airbnb and other platforms. Some of the properties were rent-stabilized, which makes them ineligible for short-term rental.

To bypass city laws, the defendants allegedly lied about the location of their properties, only sharing the real addresses with guests after the stays were booked.

“There was a family from out of town who thought they were booking a place in Burbank, and instead they were in a different neighborhood in West Hollywood,” Feldstein-Soto said.

She said they take this seriously because those cheating the system are taking affordable homes off the market for profit.

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The city is also involved in litigation against a company called the Nightfall Group , which is alleged to have listed several hundred properties for short-term rental illegally.

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