SAN DIEGO – For those who operate an Airbnb within the city of San Diego and have yet to register their property, time is running out.

Ahead of the May 1 deadline, Airbnb partnered with a city to host a workshop educating hosts on the new requirements.

“This has been a hot topic for a long time. This ordinance has come and gone over the last decade so now we’re finally ready to implement,” said Matt Wood, Short-Term Residential Occupancy Program Manager, with the Office of the City Treasurer.

All hosts are required to register with the city, to obtain a license and update listings with that license number by May 1. Anyone not in compliance risks regulatory actions.

“That could be issuance of verbal warnings, notice of violations, or penalties or fines from the code enforcement team. All listings specifically for hosting platforms will be removed after the May 1 implementation date if you continue to operate without a license,” Wood said.

Under the four tiers of licenses available, two are unlimited, meaning there is no limit to the amount of Airbnb’s in those categories. 

“I am here because I am a little bit confused. I do have tier two because I live in the same property, but I’m still here because I want to learn more just to make sure,” Betty Orozco said.

Tier three, whole house rentals, are limited to 1% of total housing units available in San Diego, excluding Mission Beach.

Tier four deals with Mission Beach exclusively and limits licenses to 30% of total housing units.

“Currently for tier three, the whole home licenses outside Mission Beach, we have a little under 2,000 still available. However in Mission Beach they are limited and we did hit the cap during the initial lottery and application period,” Wood explained

The entire licensing process is done online through the city’s website.

Prior to this ordinance, local authorities handled complaints, but now there will be a full code enforcement team dedicated to short-term rentals.