Vacation rentals in Simi Valley aren’t going anywhere, as long as their owners agree to get permits, pay taxes and follow the city’s new rules.
The Simi Valley City Council voted unanimously May 11 to regulate and tax Airbnbs and other short-term rentals in the city rather than ban them. When the new ordinance goes into effect next year, Simi Valley will become the fourth city in Ventura County to regulate and tax vacation rentals, along with Port Hueneme, Oxnard and Ventura. The county of Ventura also allows and regulates them, but only in certain areas.
The Simi Valley decision came after a year and a half of debate before the council and in the community, and went against the recommendations of the city’s Planning Commission and three of its four neighborhood councils, which urged a full ban.
Allowing vacation rentals does follow the recommendation of most of Simi Valley’s registered voters, according to a poll the city commissioned on the issue. The polling firm True North Research surveyed 670 registered voters in the city and found that only 24% favored a ban on short-term rentals, defined as private homes rented for less than 30 days at a time.
The majority of respondents, 58%, said the rentals should be allowed but regulated, and 12% said they should be allowed without regulations. The poll had a margin of error of 3.8%.
The city paid $30,000 for the poll. Its results were released as part of a city staff report to the City Council in preparation for its May 11 vote, which also laid out the regulations the council ended up approving.
What will the rules be for short-term rentals in Simi Valley?
Simi Valley has about 100 vacation rentals, including complete homes, spare rooms, guest houses and other units, according to data the city obtained from Airbnb and other short-term rental sites.
For now, they are untaxed and largely unregulated, though they’re subject to the same noise ordinance and other nuisance rules that apply to all homes in the city.
Starting Jan. 1, every short-term rental will need a city inspection and a permit. City planners estimate the likely permit fee at $741 per year, and no homeowner can have more than one short-term rental at a time.
Properties with any code violations won’t be given permits, and apartments aren’t eligible either. Accessory dwelling units will be eligible as long as they’re bigger than 800 square feet, because state law prohibits short-term rentals in smaller ADUs.
Every short-term rental will need to provide off-street parking for all guests. “Loud, unruly” gatherings will be prohibited, noise-monitoring devices at the edge of the property will be required, and homeowners will have to have a “nuisance response plan” and respond in 30 minutes or less to calls from the neighbors.
City planners estimate that around 70 of the city’s 100 current short-term rentals will seek a permit. If any that don’t have a permit continue to operate as short-term rentals, the owners will face fines of anywhere from $360 for a first notice of violation to $8,000 if the city has to take legal action to shut them down.
Permitted short-term rentals will pay a 10% tax to the city, the same rate paid by hotels. Airbnb and other listing sites will collect the tax and pay it to the city.
With that tax revenue and the cost of paying an outside vendor to monitor properties and enforce the rules, the city expects a net gain of about $152,000 from short-term rentals in the first year and $163,000 per year after that.
‘They’re not disruptive visitors’
City Councilmember Rocky Rhodes said the financial benefit was one reason he supports regulating short-term rentals. Banning short-term rentals would have cost the city about $14,000 the first year and $10,000 per year after that, with no revenue coming in from permits or taxes.
“A total ban would cost the city money to solve problems that don’t exist,” Rhodes said.
For the Simi Valley residents who have been asking for a ban since 2024, the problems are very real. About 430 of them signed a petition last year in support of a ban, and dozens came to the City Council meeting on May 11.
They complained of parking problems in neighborhoods with short-term rentals, of not knowing who was staying in the house next door, even of the possibility that sex offenders could stay in their neighborhoods without anyone knowing.
“A home is in a residential community, and to put a hotel in a residential community is wrong,” said Richard Holloman, a real estate agent and Simi Valley resident. “For someone to put a business in a residential community where people are raising their families is wrong.”
Owners of short-term rentals also spoke to the council, arguing that the income from their rentals allows them to afford to own their homes, and that their guests are respectful and quiet and bring business to the city.
Vanessa Balam said the guests at her property have included families fleeing from wildfires and doctors working for a short time at nearby hospitals.
“These are not party-goers. They’re not disruptive visitors,” she said. “These are real people, families who contribute to our local economy and our community.”
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Airbnbs can stay in Simi Valley, council decides. Here’s what it means
Reporting by Tony Biasotti, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
