Is this type of San Diego Airbnb illegal?

Question

Hello BP San Diego! My name is Brian and I’m an active duty Marine Corps Officer. I’ll be stationed in SD for 4 years beginning in Jan 2020. I’d like to buy a 3 bed, 2 bath property with enough yard space to add an ADU and rent it out on Airbnb. This seems slightly easier than finding a multi-family property plus my fiance is excited about making the ADU Instragam-worthy.

Here’s my question: is it illegal to rent out ADUs on Airbnb? The last bullet of the San Diego County Zoning Guidance document (Link) appears to state that this type of Airbnb listing is not permitted. A quick search on Airbnb shows many guest/back house available to stay in. Are all of these Airbnb hosts simply breaking the law or am I missing something?

Brian Mihaljevich · Answer

@Raymond Snoke, thanks for the input! Based on the feedback it appears different people have different interpretations of how AirBnB+ADUs should be operated.

@Nick Foster, thanks for the input. I thought that was the case, but the document I posted says “San Diego County” across the top so I was a little confused. My ideal location would be somewhere around Little Italy (Hillcrest, Banker’s Hill) but would be fine with anything in that general area (North Park, Burlingame, South Park, etc.) After doing some more research, it seems like building an ADU from scratch will be expensive wherever I do it. My top strategy now is an ADU conversion or home addition that I could design for STR (separate kitchen, bathroom, etc.).

@David Morrison, I didn’t know about those forms. Thanks for the heads up.

Account Closed, that is definitely an option that I need to spend some more time considering.

@Bruce May, thank you for the info! I’ve been following the recently regulation STR changes in Hawaii and think it’s only a matter of time before something similar happens in CA. I definitely don’t want to start off my real estate career with a situation that will result in fines/legal trouble.

@David Pere, I sent you a colleague request. I would love to connect as well!

Bruce May · Answer

@Brian Mihaljevich Semper Fi Marine! I'm in Oceanside and I'm currently in the process of converting an addition into and ADU at my house. A lady in the building department at the City of Oceanside informed me we would have to sign something with the city attorney's office stating that our ADU would not be used for STR.

If you research ADU's in California you will find that they are being pushed so heavily to address the lack of housing in the state so most of the cities are aiming at that intent and are doing a lot of follow-up by checking the STR sites for violators. I'll bet the fines are steep when they catch one.

Sean Jones · Answer

@Brian Mihaljevich There has already been a lot of good information shared above. Most notably the fact that there are 18 cities plus the unincorporated county areas that make up San Diego County and each jurisdiction has their own specific guidelines on ADUs, or at the very least must follow the state guidelines.

The City of San Diego and the City of La Mesa are two that have the most generous guidelines. I have attended a few workshops and events put on by a company called Maxable Space, they are a local company helping people with everything ADU related and are very knowledgeable on the topic.

https://maxablespace.com

Also note that if you’re looking in the City of San Diego, the code refers to these units as “companion units” or “jr. companion units”.

Kenneth Donaghy · Answer

Good question! So ADU rules can change depending on where you are in the county and city, and can be a moving target because rules change.  AirBnB rules have not been approved, and those will be fluctuate too. Then there lies the question, how will rules be enforced and who will be the enforcement agency. Bureaucracy can take some time.

That being said, I know people who are successful AirBnB'n' 30 day stays, because they follow that rule.  I also know people who do 7 days. 7 day's are better than the 1 nighters. A lot of people will do a buy 4 get 3 days free  to find the right consumer.  A lot of times they don't stay the full week. So there are options.

Account Closed · Answer

@Brian Mihaljevich if you are worried about the ADU airbnb rules then you could always live in the ADU whenever you get a guest for a short period of time. That could give you some leeway. I also, have heard people mention that you can convert an ADU into an additional bedroom by taking some extra steps.

Connor Nellans · Answer

@Brian Mihaljevich you must sign a covenant with the City that you will not short term rental your ADU when getting permitted. As others have said above, whether or not they are enforcing that is a different story. As far as I know, the City doesn't have people out knocking on doors of ADUs seeing if the occupant is a STR or LTR. If you make a neighbor mad and they report you then you might be in some trouble. But since you do sign the covenant you are liable to any repercussions if you are found to be STR. But who knows what those repercussions are as they haven't been outlined.

As mentioned above, you could live in the ADU and airbnb out the other portion(s) of the property. Further, not saying this is a good idea, but you could also have a friend sign a lease for the ADU, not actually live in it, and within the lease have a clause that the tenant can airbnb the unit. You would have to run the airbnb through that person's name potentially, so it could be more trouble than it is worth, but there may be something there depending on how creative you want to be.This could give you an extra level of protection potentially if you do run into any issues with the city.

Dan H. · Answer

As has already been indicated current statewide (CA) rules allow jurisdictions to ban STRs from RE that has an ADU built based on these newer "ADU" regulations (6 statewide ADU bills: SB13, AB881, AB68, AB587, AB670, AB671) and these jurisdictions typically require you to sign documentation indicating that no unit (primary, JADU, ADU) will be used as an STR.

Does this mean that all the San Diego ADU like units available on Airbnb are breaking the rules?  It does not!  There were numerous in-law suites, pool houses, granny flats that were built legally prior to the current ADU bills.  These units typically do not have anything that prevents them from being rented as an STR.  They would be most similar to you renting extra room(s) in your home on Airbnb.

if you build a new ADU today, virtually all CA jurisdictions prevent the JADU/ADU or primary residence from ever legally being used as an STR.

Good luck

Nick Foster · Answer

@Brian Mihaljevich, it is my understanding that STR’s are regulated at the City, not County level. By example, San Diego, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside, are all STR friendly, whereas Del Mar has banned STRs. I own and operate a STR in Carlsbad (not a ADU).

What you are describing sounds very expensive if you are looking coastal. Maybe just get the housing accommodations you and your wife require (a condo?), and then buy another condo coastal to operate as a STR?

Magdaleno Garcia · Answer

Hello Brian, I'm here in San Diego and I actually work for military housing. I'm about finished with a JRADU conversion that I'm working on within my owner occupied home. I was told that ADUs and JRADUs cannot be used for short term rentals and I found that this is true but short term rentals is defined by the City of San Diego as renting for less than 30 consecutive days. I'm looking into renting to traveling professionals and most of the folks on that website are looking to rent for 30 days or more up to 6 months and longer in some instances. The units do have to be furnished so in most respects they are like AirBnB but for professionals that are taking short contracts for work. The website is Furnished Finder. I think it's a good choice especially with folks not traveling as much right now and some folks not paying rent. This helps with both of those issues.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out. This is my first build and I'm also just starting in real estate investing and I have learned quite a bit going through this process. Hope that info helps.

Is this type of San Diego Airbnb illegal?

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