Council hears update: short‑term rentals remain banned; city monitoring resources available if demand surges

The Yorba Linda City Council on Aug. 5 discussed the status of short‑term rental enforcement after a council member asked whether the city planned further action ahead of major events.

Why it matters: councilmembers questioned whether the city’s recommended timeline for developing a plan to address event‑driven demand for short‑term rentals had been implemented; staff said the city continues to prohibit short‑term rentals and retains tools to enforce the ban if needed.

Councilman Shivendra Singh asked about a staff recommendation that the city develop a plan for anticipated demand surges from major events and about a deadline of Dec. 31 cited in staff materials. A staff member (not otherwise identified in the transcript) responded that short‑term rentals are not allowed in Yorba Linda and that monitoring was initially handled by a contracted third party. The staff member said that as the number of apparent short‑term rentals diminished and the vendor reorganized, monitoring shifted in‑house.

The staff member said the city currently has “resources that are available to us should we need it,” and that the city had not encountered a surge tied to major events to date. The staff member added that the city found “a number of violators in town” in the past but currently is not experiencing widespread noncompliance.

Councilman Singh asked whether the staff response should reflect availability of enforcement resources rather than saying a recommendation has “not been implemented.” The staff member replied that the item is listed as it is “because, we haven't encountered those big events yet.”

What’s next: no change to the city’s prohibition on short‑term rentals was made; staff said it will use in‑house monitoring and enforcement resources if listings or event‑driven demand increase.