Months later, San Diego still hasn’t fixed its Airbnb eviction loophole

Earlier this year, inewsource revealed a glaring loophole in a San Diego law that allows property owners to obtain a short-term rental license even after carrying out an illegal eviction.

More than four months have passed and that loophole still exists, and city officials haven’t said how they plan to fix it.

Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, who represents Ocean Beach, Point Loma and Mission Beach, continues to tout the regulation of short-term vacation rentals as a signature achievement, leading the charge to pass the ordinance that took effect in 2023. The ordinance has been hailed as one of the best examples of vacation rental regulations in the country.

Campbell plans to bring amendments forward to a committee meeting next month for consideration, said Venus Molina, the councilmember’s chief of staff. But Campbell nor her staff have answered questions about the loophole or how they plan to fix it.

Since inewsource revealed the gap in city law, hundreds of San Diegans have been evicted from their homes and the city has no way of knowing whether any of those evictions led to short-term rental licenses.

The loophole deals with a specific type of action called a no-fault eviction — it happens when a property owner wants to end a lease for reasons unrelated to a tenant’s behavior. State law allows property owners to exit the rental housing business for a number of specific reasons, including a substantial remodel or to allow for the owner or their family to move in.

But to terminate a lease for these reasons, property owners need to jump through a series of hoops. For example, if an owner intends to renovate the home, they would have to include the eviction notice with an itemized statement that details the scope of work and copies of the necessary permits. If they want a family member to move in, they would have to move within 90 days and live there as their primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months.

One San Diegan who spoke to inewsource earlier this year received a no-fault eviction so the new owners could move into the apartment. But less than 90 days after the tenant’s move-out date, the owner obtained a short-term rental license from the city of San Diego.

Gil Vera, a director with the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, expressed skepticism on how the city can stop this from happening.

“My concern is that I don’t know how they plan to fix it if they’re not tracking evictions,” he said.

Eviction records are protected by state law, and the only information publicly available is the number of court filings.

City officials were working on a plan to track evictions in 2023 — it was known as the eviction notice registry. The idea was if they could collect data on eviction notices sent to renters, it could help guide policy and allocate limited resources. It could also help staff identify whether a unit was made vacant through a no-fault eviction. But the idea stalled not long after it began and it’s unclear whether officials will bring it back.

Vera said without that information, it’s unrealistic to expect city officials to know in advance that a short-term rental license they are about to grant is for a unit that just illegally evicted its tenants.

The San Diego City Attorney’s Office formed a housing protection unit to ensure safe, fair and livable housing, as well as to investigate unfair business practices and repeated violations of tenant protections. A spokesperson said the office has received a few complaints that deal with tenant protections since the loophole was revealed, but would not say more.

Legal Aid is working with tenants who have received no-fault evictions, Vera said, but unless a tenant reaches back out after they move out, “we don’t know what happens to the property after the case closes.” 

Vera said officials could decide to narrow the loophole or close it altogether. 

A narrow solution would mean allowing the property owner to wait the required time period before obtaining a license. So, in the case of a family member moving in, the property owner would have to wait the full 90 days for move-in, and then the full 12 months as a primary residence. To close the loophole altogether, Vera said, the city would have to refuse short-term rental licenses for any property owner that carries out a no-fault eviction.