SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — There were fewer applications than expected for the limited number of new licenses needed for homeowners to rent out their home for vacationers, meaning many people will avoid a lottery.
New regulations on the industry take affect May 1st, 2023 after years of battles and negotiations over the City of San Diego's first effort at regulating the industry. Those regulations include the creation of new licenses, which will be limited in an effort to cut the number of homes used as short-term vacation rentals by more than half. The regulations were pushed by advocates who say the proliferation of rentals, which some estimated as numerous as 16,000, was taking valuable housing stock off the market for San Diegans, as well as those who say vacation rentals bring too many noisy, unruly guests into San Diego neighborhoods.
Because fewer applications were filed than there are licenses available citywide, it appears that all eligible applicants seeking to rent out their home for more than 20 days per year will receive a license, with the exception of those in the Mission Beach neighborhood. Because of the high number of rentals in that community, it was separated into its own tier with a specific number of licenses. In Mission Beach, there were more applications than licenses, so there will be a lottery system to determine who gets the licenses. That lottery will be drawn by December 16.
The City says it will reopen the application process next month for the rest of the licenses until they are all given out.
Many people expressed surprise at the low number of overall applications. Paul Becker, president of the San Diego-based Bluewater Vacation Rentals, thinks many people may simply have not heard about the new system. “That may be the case that a lot of people didn’t know, they didn’t apply. And I’ve got to say, the application process was not easy," Becker said.
While many of Becker's clients outside of Mission Beach will be relieved that they will not have to enter a lottery, he says concern remains about how the city enforces the new regulations. “They’ve built their retirement, they built their life around the short-term rentals and they’re very worried about losing that ability.” He also suggests many people who did not apply for a license will continue to rent their home out, seeking to skirt the new system.
