Fine and Punishment: How cities punish short-term vacation rentals

Jeffrey Lewis Welcome everyone, I am Jeff Lewis.

Tim Kowal And I'm Tim Kowal It's summer now, Jeff, and summer vacation rentals have always been a controversy in California, at least since they've been a thing starting back in around 2010. and so I thought today we would invite David Koslow to the show. He has been, since 2022 at least, one of Coachella Valley's most active citizen advocates against excessive short-term rental fines. Helping some of his neighbors challenge $5,000 plus penalties before the Riverside County Superior Court's Appellate Division. And so David's going to give us his perspective as a former practicing constitutional law attorney and repeat candidate for city council in Cathedral City, and an assistant to vacation rental owners on the current state of play in California on vacation rental laws and regulations. welcome to the podcast, David.

David Koslow Thank you very much, Tim and Jeff.

Tim Kowal Now, David, you've been peripherally involved in several of these vacation rental cases in Coachella Valley. And I thought that maybe first we'd orient our listeners to to why this matters to them. probably most of our listeners have have followed at at at one point or another some of the the saga surrounding these vacation rentals, short-term vacation rentals is the I guess the the the appropriate moniker for them, sometimes colloquially known as just Airbnbs or VRBOs. So the disputes that that you're gonna talk to us about center around excessive fines, like this $5,000 per incident fine, merely for advertising a vacation rental with an expired permit, I guess. And so by way of a brief history of these short-term vacation rental laws, it all started around the initial phase was 2010 to 2015 when Airbnb and Vrbo founded and started scaling up and they became a real hot ticket. so owners of second homes or in some cases larger investors would get a boon and able they're able to monetize these these second homes or investment homes more easily. And then

Jeffrey Lewis Yeah, Tim before you demonize these homeowners, I just wanna let you know I have an ADU in my backyard and I wouldn't I would love nothing better than to charge you an arm and a leg for you and your family to come up for one or two days to watch the World Cup or the Olympics that are coming, but I can't because my city has a short term rental ban. I can only rent an ADU for thirty days or more, so my opportunity to fleece you has been ruled illegal.

Tim Kowal Or or curtailed merely, we could say. but yeah, I and and that's where I wanted to talk with David about. He's he's gonna give us maybe a survey of some of the some of these cities that that have banned you know banned short-term vacation rentals entirely, and some of them who have merely monetized it, maybe others who are just olli oxen-free and more libertarian about it. in 2015 to 2019, we started seeing some.

Jeffrey Lewis Yeah.

Tim Kowal challenges and pushback to these short-term vacation rentals, with San Francisco, I think being one of the first to attempted to put a cap on short-term rentals, although I think that that push failed. what they did ultimately I I I guess was around in 2017 they entered into some sort of settlement where they they would require registrations, basically a a permitting policy or a regulated approach to it rather than an all-out ban. Santa Monica did Ban whole home rentals. And that was upheld apparently in the Ninth Circuit in homeawake.com versus City of Santa Monica back in 2019. And then moving to to David's neck of the woods in the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs built an elaborate permitting and enforcement and cap regime. And in 2020, ballot ballot voters actually rejected a measure to phase out. Most short-term vacation rentals in single-family neighborhoods. So despite a push to to ban it entirely, short-term rentals are still allowed in Palm Springs, albeit heavily regulated and permitted and subject to caps and fines and things. And other Coachella Valley cities do enact bans. I I'm informed that Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, and others have restricted or effectively banned short-term vacation rentals in residential zones. And Cathedral City. That takes us to C Cathedral City, which is in the middle of this. and then but just briefly backing off to to the coastal areas where where Jeff and I find ourselves, the Coastal Commission becomes another layer of complexity. where the Coastal Commission treats bans on short-term vacation rentals and coastal zones as restrictions on public coastal access. And so Maybe I don't know if this ironically or or or not, that that because of the Coastal Commission, short-term vacation rentals are are more available as a result. they're at least not going to be subject to outright bans on when you're under the coastal commission. So the so where do things stand now in 2026, David? catch us up after that that kind of city bus tour on how it started and and and how it How it has gone for the last fifteen years or so. Where are we in two thousand twenty six and the state of play on short term vacation rentals?

David Koslow As further background, Coachella Valley is the host of several major music events. And during that time, all of the hotels are booked up, and that's why short-term vacation rentals really supply an important feature to those weekends. Cathedral City was permitting them and then closed down permitting. And in 2022 established an escalating fine of five thousand, ten thousand, fifteen thousand plus penalties. I think because they were able to shoot fish in a barrel. These were homeowners who didn't live here and therefore don't vote here. And Could not reply to the extremely angry mob, reminding me of Frankenstein and all the villagers with their pitchforks coming after short-term vacation rentals. And the city council set the fines, I believe, because they knew it was just. low enough so so that won't no one could afford to get an attor attorney to intervene, and high enough so they could monetize it to the tune of around five hundred thousand dollars over a period of four four years. It was a very lucrative s side venture for the city.

Tim Kowal It's way for the city to get their piece of the action.

David Koslow Yes. As opposed to what Palm Springs does, it gets its piece of the action through the temporary residency taxes in other ways, you know, permitting fees. So that made a lot of sense for Palm Springs. Some cities, as you mentioned, prohibit it entirely. Irvine, for example. Ranch Mirage prohibits short-term vacation rentals entirely or and the advertising of it, not only in the city, but in HOAs within the city. Recently there was a new statute limiting HOA fines to $100, and the conflict between the city fine and the HOA fine has never been adjudicated.

Tim Kowal I believe there's a government code, is it section thirty six nine one that sets a cap of thousand dollars on city city fines?

David Koslow correct, and that's at issue in the second of the two cases that I've been helping by finding attorneys, the Leppert case. the first case, Montenero ended with the appellate division saying that the fifteen hundred dollar fine for court proceedings should apply equally to city forum proceedings. That appellate decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal and they kicked out the case entirely on the basis of forfeiture, that Alessandra Montenero had not raised excessive fine issue at the trial level. Now in the federal courts, this is called non-presentational. And if you read recent opinions by the Supreme Court, they're taking the same tact that if you didn't raise it at the trial court, it doesn't exist. There are ways around it. For example Schwartz versus Cohen, which is pending before the US the California Supreme Court. The party's settled. They have no case or controversy anymore. But the U the California Supreme Court's taking it on because it is an is an issue of great public significance.

Tim Kowal Yeah. Are aren't there some authorities that allow issues that even constitutional or or pure issues of law that were not raised below to be raised on appeal if they if the f if the underlying facts are uncontroverted, there's no dispute over the underlying facts, which is in this case you could take judicial notice that the fines were five thousand dollars, and you can take judicial notice of the fact that the legislative cap on fines is one thousand dollars. It doesn't take a whole lot of trial court litigation to bring that issue to the fore.

David Koslow Well you'll have to tell that to the California Supreme Court, which denied a petition for review filed by an excellent attorney with the Complex Appellate Litigation Group in San Francisco. Do you know that group?

Tim Kowal Yeah, yeah, we have Ben Feuer the founder, coming on the podcast soon.

David Koslow So luckily Richard Levick learned Of all the mistakes that Alessandra had made. And he raised all of these issues at the trial court. He got the trial court, in fact, to agree with him that the $5,000 fine was constitutionally excessive, and the trial court instead ordered a 50% fine of the $1,500 fine. In other words, $750. There was an error on his part because the $1,000 cap, which is a default cap, the statute that is what should have applied and so the fifty percent should have been five hundred. But all of these issues are now before the appellate division.

Tim Kowal Where did the fifty percent come from? What w you you say that the that the appropriate penalty should have been fifty percent of the one thousand dollar statutory cap. What why fifty percent?

David Koslow I'm sorry? Because he gave fifty percent of the fifteen hundred by mistake. He thought that the he agreed he agreed with the Montenero appellate division that the five fine in the court forum should be the same as the fine in the city forum. And that decision said that the fine in the court forum would have been fifteen hundred. And this

Tim Kowal I see. But where but okay. I was just wondering where the fifty percent came from, but I but I think the Can we back up a minute to the to to the fine itself? The fine was for advertising a vacation rental, short term vacation rental, with an expired permit. So can you tell us about the the cathedral city vacation permitting regime? how do you get a permit? What's involved in keeping the permit active?

David Koslow It no more. No more. No more. No permits. Yes, they sent notices to everybody who had permits, and that included Alessandra. Your permit will be dead as of December thirty-one. Now Richard Richard Leveck never had a permit. He didn't know about the law. and that's why he advertised.

Tim Kowal So they they did away with the permitting program. Permit. So the per they did away with the permits, meaning that anyone can can advertise a vacation rental at this point.

David Koslow No, no, no. They got rid of the permits making short term vacation rentals unlawful and to advertise unlawful. See the the ordinance itself says to advertise or to rent.

Tim Kowal I see th there's an outright ban now.

David Koslow Outright banned.

Tim Kowal Okay, I missed that part of it. Okay, so so this is pre ban. she was advertising with with an expired permit.

David Koslow Yes, and let me give additional f caveat that in Cathedral City the HOAs are left to their own vices and devices, and they're regulated by the new statute limiting fines to one hundred, as opposed to ranch mirage, which is sticking its nose into HOAs and enforcing it against HOAs.

Tim Kowal So where can do you have any any insights on why some cities are imposing outright bans, why some cities are just regulating them and collecting collecting taxes and making money like normal people would do. and and maybe there are some on the other side, or there are other cities that just allow it without any regulation?

David Koslow I'm not aware of those. the brief that Richard Leppert filed tells the history of the outrage about B&Bs and short-term vacation rentals. There was some violent occurrence in a small town in Northern California, and it apparently set the residents on edge. I know locally the residents here object to short-term vacation rentals on the grounds of too much noise and too much traffic. However, we have codes that address exactly that. And our code fines are 100, 200, and 500. It's not f five thousand. In fact, we have a violation fine for fireworks. It's only a thousand dollars. Why did the pitchforks come out? I I really don't know.

Tim Kowal Well, I in in Coachella Valley, you mentioned the you know, the Coachella Rock Music Festival. you know, it's that a little different clientele than like a like a classical music concert. who would people would come out and enjoy wine and quiet conversation. Maybe p some of the people who are who are using the short term vacation rentals there are are spooking the neighbors or terrifying them with their with raucous parties. Is that that must be a factor?

David Koslow Well, I have a friend who believes firmly that the reason for the resistance is because these neighbors are jealous of the fornication going on. But, you know, we have a very interesting group of madcaps here in Cathedral City who visit the city council meetings and express outrage at trash cans not being restored after the trash collections.

Tim Kowal Okay.

David Koslow There there's a real civil war going on. I think everyone is unhappy and they express it in various ways. And one way is to prohibit short term vacation rentals.

Tim Kowal I wonder you you mentioned Irvine has a has a complete ban. part of that's part of it surprises me and part of it doesn't surprise me. The part that does surprise me is I I don't understand where the incentive comes from. It's I don't know of any big music festivals, big raucous music festivals that that happen there that would drive a lot of partygoers en masse to to solicit v short-term vacation rentals. but the part that That doesn't surprise me is that it's you know, generally a a lot of family neighborhoods and maybe they just don't like the short term rentals there.

David Koslow Well the ordinances always have a list of horrors. You know, why the the ban is is being placed. You know, too much noise, too much traffic, too much drugs, too much this, too much that. it may be a lithium's test for the culture wars and and the whole idea that people should be entitled to use the property that they own in the in the ways that they in they prefer.

Jeffrey Lewis Right.

David Koslow there is a Supreme Court case, Sheetz that starts to look at incursions on property ownership that I think will come into play at some point when a city says, absolutely not, you can't make any commercial use of your residential property. but that case hasn't occurred yet.

Tim Kowal And you've advised individual short-term vacation rental owners. where are the big guys in all this? you know, do Airbnb and Vrbo get get involved directly in any of these lawsuits? Are there larger investors, you know, big companies who buy up i you know

David Koslow You know, they really should because a new statute They really should because a new statute makes the platform, Airbnb, whatever it is, liable and that hasn't been tested. you know, it's just so weird how this one issue seems to be arsenic to the public politic. And it's a good question you ask, which is exactly why. Why why should I be concerned? I have a neighbor two houses down. He outfitted his home completely, took his spare room, created an outdoor entrance to the pool. They had big plans. And they went into the toilet because of the regulation.

Tim Kowal What can you tell? Can I I'm curious if you can predict if someone is a short-term vacation rental owner advocate or supporter based on their demography. For example, can you tell if someone would be for or against a ban based on their, you know, their their politics, you know, Republican, Democrat or left or right, or their age or marital status, whether they have children.

David Koslow They're demographic. They're demographic. I don't know. I think this is a cause to eliminate short-term vacation rentals that the Trumpists, the Republicans, the Democrats would all agree on. It it's a libertarian viewpoint. it's not doing any harm to anyone, and the harms that are alleged are already covered by code ordinances.

Tim Kowal They're demographics.

David Koslow So as to demographics, I'd say young people would be all for it because they're into the Coachella music scene. And seniors probably not so much. Anyone who complains about neighbors not pushing their trash cans back in, that person is probably likely suspect to oppose short-term vacation rentals.

Tim Kowal yeah, yeah. There are all the always every neighborhood has someone like that who will complain that you didn't bring your garbage cans in soon enough. Or my son's my son's got a basketball hoop and you can't put it in the street. We live in a cul-de-sac, we put it on the street, but the well, the mailman, you know, needs to be able to drive up to the mailbox. Okay, so we'll put it on the sidewalk. Then someone says, you know, well, I I need to walk my dog down down the sidewalk, so you have to push it into your driveway. And so now my kid has to come get me every time he needs he wants to shoot

Jeffrey Lewis Mrs. Krabbitz.

Tim Kowal shoot hoops to drag it out to the curb.

David Koslow Well if if if they've read Thoreau and Emerson they will oppose this type of regulation.

Jeffrey Lewis Good exercise for you, Tim.

Tim Kowal Yeah, I don't get any others.

David Koslow And i it's it's interesting to see the Supreme Court cases which are critical of administrative agencies. in the course of this I became introduced through a cousin of mine to Professor Philip Hamburger, who's written a book called Is Administrative Law Unlawful? And he's been at the center of the lit litigations that resulted in the removal of the Chevron deference. And the Jarcosy case, which plays into the appeal that Richard Leppert has made.

Tim Kowal Right, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, let's talk about the that Jarkesy jury trial issue briefly. the SEC versus Jarkesy 2024 Supreme Court decision held that the this was about the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the SEC has an in-house tribunal that will dole out civil penalties for violation of one thing or another. And the court held that the Seventh Amendment guarantees a right to a jury trial in those tribunals. And

David Koslow That's because of the choice of forum that was available to the SEC. The SEC had a choice in-house or court. Now, a recent case, FCC, that the Supreme Court decided, said that the FCC's in-house could be appealed to the court where there would be a jury trial, and so Jarkesy doesn't apply. That's why FCC is so important in understanding what Jarkesy's ruling is. Jarkesy has not been applied to any state agencies yet, and cities are local agencies by definition. Cathedral City has is allowed by state statute to create new misdemeanors. This is something that's boggling because the statute says any code violation is a misdemeanor. And then another section says that those code violations can be prosecuted as infractions or as code violations in the city forum. The city ordinances that violations of the STVR ordinances can may be, in the words may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor. So from that, we understand that the City of Cathedral City has a choice of forum. It can bring an enforcement action within the city forum through an administrative citation or It can bring a court action for misdemeanor, which in the sole discretion of the city attorney can be reduced to an infraction. It's given that choice, and given the choice of forum, one with out attorney fee, without jury trial, one with jury trial, the reasoning of Jarkesy would be they've got to select the misdemeanor.

Tim Kowal Well then

David Koslow This would have helped Richard Leppert because he was doing this poor thing all alone. He had no attorney. He was cribbing from the the Montenero briefs. And if he had been criminally prosecuted, he would have had access to an attorney as an indig indigent.

Tim Kowal So I wanna make sure I have the argument right, the the Jarkesy argument right, that if the city could bring this through an ad administrative proceeding to which a jury right wouldn't attach, or it could bring it through a misdemeanor proceeding to which a jury trial right would attach, then J Jarkesy would hold that you're entitled to the j to the jury trial, regardless of which election the city makes.

David Koslow Justice Roberts, who wrote the Jarkesy case decision, he goes on for pages about how essential to our democracy the jury trial is. It it's really quite quotable what he says.

Tim Kowal The cases we've been talking about have been in in superior court, state court. you have any insight on on why they are not brought in federal court and whether the shape or outcomes of the cases would be meaningfully different if they were litigated in the federal forum?

David Koslow Well they're in Superior Court under a government code section that allows a fine or penalty assessment by the city to get a de novo hearing at the superior court. I haven't really thought deeply about a nineteen eighty three claim in a federal court.

Jeffrey Lewis Yeah.

Tim Kowal But these are cases brought by the by the city. They're they're enforcement enforcement actions. Or

David Koslow No, no, no, no. Alessandra and Richard both appeal de novo to the Superior Court and they're treated there as if they were small claims actions with no right of jury trial.

Tim Kowal I see, I see. They they just get these these ministerial fines and they have to challenge them in in superior court.

David Koslow Well they're called administrative administrative fines. And what was r remarkable was that Richard piggybacked on Alessandra's appellate division ruling. And convince the trial judge in his case that the five thousand dollar fine was excessive. That has changed the posture of the appeal in Richard's case from the posture of the appeal in Alessandra's case. So what happened there is the city appealed. The city appealed from the seven hundred and fifty dollar fine. Richard was happy with the fine, was willing to pay it. But now they put him to this additional expense and time in in presenting all of these arguments. Which could result in huge refund requirements to present them in appellate

Tim Kowal Yeah, I that's what I wanted to get to next. What what are the stakes here? If the if the city wins, w will that depress the availability of short term vacation rentals? Because these these owners will be up against these onerous fines. And is that going to chill them from entering that market?

David Koslow I think so. if the city wins they will have reinstated the five thousand dollar fine, probably on the basis that the charter city status of Cathedral City renders the fines impervious to state statutes.

Tim Kowal There are probably what what would be called like a regressive tax or a regressive fine because individual owners are gonna be more likely to misstep and incur those kinds of fines, whereas big institutional owners of short-term vacation rentals will have whole legal teams who will know how to avoid those those trapdoors.

David Koslow Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about next, which is what the state bar calls the justice gap. The justice gap is the fact that if I were criminally prosecuted and indigent, I would have an attorney assigned to me. But if I'm bringing or defending a civil action, I can't find any attorney under, you know twenty five thousand dollars willing to take it on and that is a retainer which is quickly exhausted. It's called the justice gap. Now the state bar has a very weak solution. Maybe you're aware of it. They are offering to attorneys who are retiring. That they will pay their annual state bar fees if they agree to provide pro bonus services through a state bar certified lawyer referral service. That's not working. Number one, these attorneys are somewhere between 80 and deaf, and their comprehension of some of the laws that apply today may be. On the scale of Maitland's book on common law in England. The other problem is that the certified state certified, state bar certified lawyer referral services aren't really a good source of legal representation. There aren't that many lawyers involved in it, and they're all really there to make a buck, which is understandable. You may be aware that about two weeks ago the US the California Supreme Court issued a direction to the state bar to look into rules that would allow what they call community justice workers. I'm probably a community justice worker, but the problem is that these unlicensed legal aids have to work under the direction and control of a licensed attorney. I don't know how many licensed attorneys would want to be doing that. Now you do have the large law firms like Manette Phelps that take on quite a few cases, civil cases. You have the Law schools that have student educational programs that take on cases, but they are all directed to specific hot topics like immigration or taxation. None of them are really focused on what I think is the worst offenses going on in the administrative state, and that is the city and county fines. They're just low enough that it would not be worthwhile to hire an attorney and just high enough that the city can monetize it.

Tim Kowal I find it a little curious why a lot of these owners who are presumably you know, they're income property owners. These are they're probably typically renting out a second home. they so they own investment property. They're not the type of people who would be so destitute that they couldn't afford an attorney. certainly if they had a tenant and they had to evict the the tenant, they would hire a an eviction at attorney. I wonder why this kind of cottage industry of of real estate attorneys and eviction law attorneys aren't able to either either they are na not able to come to the aid of their clientele basically to assist with these with these fines and other short term vacation rental permitting issues.

David Koslow Well, I'm glad you asked that because in Palm Springs there is an organization of the short-term vacation rental owners with permits, and they have one goal and one goal only, to prevent competition. They have no interest in helping anybody else. And when I approached them to see if they would, you know, come on in any respect with these two litigations, it was like Henny Penny being asking all the farm animals to help sow the wheat and grind the wheat. You know, i it's a it's a problem. I I wanted to go back to the justice gap and why it is so corrosive in the context of city fines. And it is because of this that Alessandra when she appeared pro pur at the trial court, she didn't say the magic words. She said that the fine was draconian. It was draconian. And when it got to the Court of Appeal, they said, Well, it's not Draconian, it's exacid fines. So exactly.

Tim Kowal Is that the essence of the forfeiture argument?

David Koslow This is a a free whacked out judges.

Tim Kowal I would I would I would be very distressed. I'd be very distressed if well that but that that was the ultimate outcome, wasn't it?

David Koslow Well. That was the outcome. And so she had already paid it because somebody at the city told her the fine would be doubled if she didn't pay it. So she fined paid it. She didn't know that the appeal statute stays the fine while it's on appeal. So she let's put it this way. She got shafted both ways. but in pro peers who are appearing with As their own attorney have a fool as a client, isn't that the old expression?

Tim Kowal Yeah, that's yeah, that's the expression.

David Koslow And all here's the final point. They make mistakes that cannot be rectified by the appellate lawyers. And in searching for an attorney for Alessandra, I spoke with a a Yale Law School appellate lawyer from San Diego. He read the tentative ruling about forfeiture. He said, There's no way you're gonna get over this. He was absolutely right. But This is an example why at the trial court attorneys and in pro pers need to consult with you guys to make sure that the record is complete. Now, in Leppert's case, the city made a huge mistake. They didn't order a court reporter. Oops, yes. And we know from the appellate division case that if it's not on the record as being raised, it didn't get raised.

Jeffrey Lewis Oops.

David Koslow Levick was filing things with all of his arguments being raised. I guess I have a question about appellate lawyers and where to find them. I know the fourth district court of appeal, first division, provides pro bono counsel, but it's restricted to cases before them. I think that that would be a very good move for all of the district courts of appeal. In lieu of setting up community justice workers, that would be a better idea. But it doesn't solve the problem of in pro per making huge mistakes. And they make it because they believe, Jeff and Tim, they believe their heart of hearts that the judge is their friend. They believe the judge is their advocate. He's the Aaron to their Moses. He will know what's in their mind and will put it into the right legal jargon. But as we know from Chief Justice Roberts when he was up for confirmation, judges act as umpires calling balls and strikes. But what what happens if you've got the city, you know, s sending all these balls and and the in pro per doesn't know what to do with them?

Jeffrey Lewis Yeah, it's like a major league pitcher throwing at a a little league hitter. Yeah. Now

David Koslow a movie about the disparity in power would be worthwhile. A trial is intended to be a match between equally matched parties, but it certainly isn't when you have an in pro per.

Tim Kowal I I I have a follow up question for you about the the association of short term vacation rental owners. I don't remember the in Palm Springs. what are the criteria to become a member of that association? 'Cause it sounds like s it's not easy to do. Say again. Membership.

David Koslow In Palm Springs. Well, I I think there's a a membership fee. I think there's a membership fee. And a you you would prove your permit. The way Palm Springs works, it limits the number of those short term vacation rentals by area. And there's some

Tim Kowal But is it an exclusive organization? Are there a lot of single STVR owners who are not able to gain access?

David Koslow Yeah, yeah. It's it's mostly single property owners. Mostly single property owners. By the way, Cathedral City, Cathedral City, when it enacted permits, had all types of onerous restrictions. They had to be inspected by the city. The person who owns the property has to be there twenty-four seven. It was really ridiculous.

Tim Kowal They're made up mostly of singles. Hmm. Okay. Well, and and then let's go back to the stakes question. I asked, you know, if the city wins, is that gonna be a chilling effect? But if the city loses on on this permit issue and the court finds that five thousand dollar per you know per incident violations that it's been collecting over the years have all been excessive and they need to be refunded. do you have any sense of magnitude of the stakes? How much of a check that the cities are gonna have to write?

David Koslow Yeah, I mentioned it before. My estimate my estimate from doing public records requests is it's around five hundred thousand dollars. Now it might be less, yeah, for Cathedral City. Yeah. Now this case only involves Cathedral City. However, the Attorney General has been notified, it's required by the rules of court, that there's a constitutional challenge to the delegation to cities.

Tim Kowal And that's which city? Just cathedral city.

David Koslow Who there's a statute whose constitutionality is being challenged under Jarkesy

Tim Kowal All right, and last question for for city council members and city attorneys who may be listening, do you have any suggestions for sensible ways that short term vacation rentals can and or should be regulated? you know, where have you seen them work well? where is the appropriate place for city enforcement to avoid neighborhood disruption? What's the what's the ideal model, or does it just vary from community to community?

David Koslow The libertarian model is the model I subscribe to, and that is that there are enough code ordinances that already cover all of the outrages that are alleged to occur with short-term vacation rentals. So I would just leave them alone and and the if the city wants to monetize, then let them charge permit fees. But don't have city inspectors go in and look at swimming pools and bathtubs and bathrooms. And require s someone to live twenty four seven on the premises.

Tim Kowal So just stick with the permitting fees to to let the cities make enough money out of it to make it worth their while, but otherwise leave alone.

David Koslow That's my platform. I'm running on that platform.

Tim Kowal What you think about that platform, Jeff? You're a you're a Vrbo owner, or or not a Vrbo, but a short term vacation rental owner.

Jeffrey Lewis first of all, Tim, nobody calls it Vrbo except Vrbo Everybody else calls it VRBO. I know they're trying to rebrand. And second of all, y yeah, you know, I live in a city that used to be flush with money before huge landslides were were sweeping homes into the sea and now we're hemorrhaging money and we need money. And I would think a city like mine would view this as an opportunity, relax the ban, allow it. use rely on its nuisance and other powers to regulate conduct and make a buck and save our city from sliding into the sea.

David Koslow And my city has dug into its reserves because it's been overspending. And it even got the citizens to approve a 0.5% increase in the sales tax. So now Cathedral City and Palm Springs have a nine point five percent sales tax soon to rival New York City. I wanted to mention one last thing about what in pro per misunderstand.

Jeffrey Lewis Wow.

David Koslow They think the city attorney represents the citizens of the city. They're so wrong. This city attorney represents the city council and tries to cover the city council's ass. And now because the fine was approved as to form by the city attorney, the city attorney is also covering its ass. So I th I think public records requests and litigations against the city unfortunately are necessary until there's a change in regime.

Tim Kowal I think ethically speaking the city attorneys I mean their their client is the city council. and I think true. Yeah. Well yeah.

David Koslow Absolutely. Yes, but many people misunderstand that. And they misunderstand what the judge is there for, to be their friend, to read their minds, to be their advocate. Quite the opposite. They the judge, as much as your adversary, is your adversary.

Tim Kowal Well, what what what most people misunderstand about democracy could could fill a library and and what they misunderstand about the court system also is is pretty overwhelming. but David, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us your perspectives on these cases and thank you for the for the fight that you're putting up there. that's gonna wrap up this episode. If you have suggestions for future episodes, guests and topics, please email us at info@calpodcast.com.

David Koslow Thank you, Tavin.

Tim Kowal In our upcoming episodes, look for tips on how to lay the groundwork for an appeal when preparing for trial.

Jeffrey Lewis Yeah, see you next time and email me if you want to stay at my ADU for thirty one days.

Tim Kowal See you next time.