Member Request: Help NBSTRA Review STR Enforcement Fairness
NBSTRA is asking members to share examples of short-term rental permit violations, suspensions, revocations, or appeal outcomes where they believe they were treated unfairly by the City.
We are especially interested in situations where a member believes the City did not fully consider the facts, ignored important mitigating circumstances, imposed a penalty that seemed disproportionate, or upheld a violation or suspension on appeal despite what the member believed was a strong case.
This is not about encouraging noncompliance. Responsible owners and managers understand that Newport Beach has rules for short-term rentals, and those rules need to be taken seriously. But fair enforcement also matters. When a permit holder is facing a violation, suspension, or revocation, the City should carefully evaluate the actual facts, the available evidence, and any relevant context before imposing serious penalties.
Examples that may be helpful include:
Cases where you believe the wrong property, guest, owner, or manager was blamed for a violation.
Cases where you believe the City relied on incomplete or inaccurate information.
Cases where mitigating facts were presented but, in your view, not meaningfully considered.
Cases where you appealed a violation, suspension, or revocation and believe the appeal outcome was unfair.
Cases where the penalty seemed out of proportion to the facts or the conduct involved.
Cases in which you believe you complied with the City standards of making your “best efforts” to comply with the rules and enforce those rules on guests, only to have those efforts disregarded.
NBSTRA will anonymize member examples unless a member gives us explicit permission to share identifying information. We are not looking to publicly identify owners, addresses, guests, or permit numbers. Our goal is to better understand whether members are experiencing recurring unfairness in the City’s enforcement process.
After this incident and this incident, it os critical to understand how pervasive such occurrences. are.
These examples will also help us evaluate the information we receive through NBSTRA’s pending Public Records Act request. Once the City provides enforcement data and related records, member examples may help us compare the official records against real-world experiences and check whether the facts, timelines, and outcomes are being handled consistently.
If you have an example you are willing to share, please send NBSTRA a brief summary of what happened. Helpful information may include the approximate date, the type of violation or penalty, whether there was an appeal, what facts you believe were overlooked, and whether you have any documents you are comfortable sharing.
NBSTRA will continue advocating for responsible short-term rental owners and managers, including fair enforcement, reasonable due process, and decisions based on facts rather than assumptions.