Short-Term Rental Site in Venice Deemed Legal

Andrew Starrels

Short-term rental market, or at least advocates in the space, may have gotten a win. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Beaudet has deemed that a local apartment owner is not breaking city law by leasing units on a short-term basis. City attorney Mike Feuer brought a civil suit against Venice Suites LLC for leasing units in a Venice apartment building for less than 30 days. Some celebrated the decision as a win for the short-term rental market—where units are rented as pseudo hotel rooms on a short-term basis—but others say that impact might be minimal because of the details of the case. We sat down with Andrew Starrels, a partner at Holland & Knight, to talk about the case and the potential impacts.

GlobeSt.com: What was your reaction to the decision that this was not an illegal hotel? Legally, were you surprised by the decision?