Can a Landlord Set a Maximum Occupancy Rule for a Vacation Rental
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California
I have a vacation rental (14 days to 3 months) home that's in part of LA City. There's 3 bedrooms and 3 beds. I have a maximum occupancy rule of 5 people. Nothing more. I don't care if it's 5 adults or 1 adult and 4 children, just as long as the total is no more than 5. Is this legal in LA City? Is there some rule that you have to allow 2 or 3 per bedroom? Or a certain number of people per square feet?
Re: Can a Landlord Set a Maximum Occupancy Rule for a Vacation Rental
Under what code or statute is your limit 5 people? Is this something controlled by the CC&R's of a condo association? Where are you getting that from? How many square feet is your unit?
Re: Can a Landlord Set a Maximum Occupancy Rule for a Vacation Rental
The first thing you have to do is find out if you are regulated by the LA Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
If you are, then READ IT to find out if an occupancy limit is prohibited or not.
If you aren't regulated by the RSO, then I don't imagine that an occupancy limit would be prohibited as long as you aren't discriminating against families with children (which you apparently aren't) and have that specified in your rental contract and your advertising so that prospective tenants are aware of the limit up front.
Re: Can a Landlord Set a Maximum Occupancy Rule for a Vacation Rental
You shouldn’t have any trouble enforcing that limit so long as you make it very clear in the contract.
Re: Can a Landlord Set a Maximum Occupancy Rule for a Vacation Rental
I did see talk of LA setting some regulations in mid 2015. Given the recent activity I would suggest you contact the city administrators directly to be provided the most recent regulations in place. There may be regulations so recent they are not easily discovered. It would be wise to get the word from the horse's mouth.
in general though, I did not see anything regarding the occupancy and cannot imagine your limits of occupancy being unlawful for some reason. Transient housing (think; hotel) establishments generally do have such limitations.
The problem I see would be enforcing your rule may be your biggest problem though. How are you defining max occupancy? Is that number of people listed on contract? Is that simply a max allowed at any time? In the latter, what happens of a group of 5 rent it but want guests for the evening? Obviously that would not be allowed, unless a few hung out outside to keep the occupants under 5.
So, let's assume it is meant to be 5 people "living" at the home. So, now what time would a guest have to leave so as to not be considered "living" in the home? What happens if 5 guests come over and everybody falls asleep so now you have 10 occupants?
I see no issue limiting things so you don't end up with Animal House III being filmed there but the practicality of enforcing the rule, especially unless very well defined, can be a real problem. What happens if they exceed the number? You can't simply evict them. It is a simple breach of contract and determination it being a breach requires a court to determine, if contested.