Short answer: not as a nightly rental. The City of Los Angeles only allows stays of 30 days or less in a host's primary residence, meaning the home you live in for more than six months of the year. A house, condo or second unit you own but don't live in can't be registered.

You can rent it furnished for more than 30 consecutive days, though. The city treats that as a long-term rental, and no home-sharing registration is needed. This guide explains the rule, why the 30-day line matters, and what changes when you rent month to month.

This covers the City of Los Angeles only. Santa Monica, Pasadena, the South Bay beach cities and unincorporated LA County each have their own rules.

The rule: LA's Home-Sharing Ordinance in plain English

LA's Home-Sharing Ordinance took effect July 1, 2019. It limits short-term rentals (stays of 30 consecutive days or less) to a host's primary residence, specifically to prevent homes from being converted into guest lodging. The key points, from LA City Planning's FAQ:

• Primary residence only. That's where you live more than six months a year, and you can only have one. If you own a duplex and live in one side, the other side doesn't count, even though you own it.
• Some units are never eligible. These include rent-stabilized (RSO) units, units with an affordability covenant, and properties with an Ellis Act removal in the past five years.
• 120-day cap. A regular registration allows up to 120 nights a year. An extended registration lifts the cap, but only after you've held a regular one for six months or hosted 60 nights.
• Fees and permits stack up. For fiscal year 2026–27, a regular application is $441, plus a per-night fee of $3.42 starting October 29, 2026. Hosts also need an LAPD permit (required since July 1, 2024), a business tax registration, and to collect the city's hotel tax.
• Owners can be on the hook. The city says property owners can be held responsible for illegal short-term rentals on their property, even when a tenant is running them. Listings without a valid registration number can be cited, and repeated citations lead to suspension or revocation.

The practical upshot: if you don't live there, LA's nightly rental market is closed to that property.

Why 30+ days is a different category

The ordinance only applies to stays of 30 consecutive days or less. City Planning says it directly: rentals longer than 30 consecutive days are long-term rentals, aren't subject to the Home-Sharing Ordinance, and need no home-sharing registration.

That changes three things:

• No registration, no 120-day cap. You can rent the property year-round to a series of 30+ day guests.
• No hotel tax, if you document it. LA's 14% Transient Occupancy Tax applies to occupancies of 30 days or less. For stays over 30 days, the Office of Finance has an over-30-day exemption form: the guest signs it and you keep it on file. If the guest leaves before day 30, the tax is due.
• Different regulators. Long-term rentals fall under the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD), not City Planning. That means registering the unit and following LA's tenant protection rules, covered below.

Your options for an investment property

For most owners who furnished a place for Airbnb, furnished 30+ day stays are the closest substitute. You keep the furniture investment, you can charge a premium over unfurnished rent, and you turn the unit over a handful of times a year instead of every few nights. LA's demand for this comes from people who need a real home for a few months: hospital staff on contract, production crews, engineers on project assignments, and families displaced by renovations or insurance claims.

The other two options are moving into the property yourself, which makes home-sharing possible, or selling.

What changes when you rent 30+ days: you have a tenant

This is the part Airbnb hosts most often miss. Once someone stays more than 30 days, they're a tenant under LA rules, not a hotel guest. Which rules apply depends on the building:

• Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO): generally covers buildings with two or more units first built on or before October 1, 1978.
• Just Cause Ordinance (JCO): covers most other rental housing in the city, including a standalone single-family home. According to LAHD, JCO protections attach once the tenant has lived there six months or the original lease has expired, whichever comes first.

The second point matters most for a furnished, fixed-term stay. Lease expiration isn't on LAHD's list of reasons to end a tenancy. A guest who stays past the end date on a three-month lease has protections, and you'd generally need a listed just cause (and possibly relocation assistance) to end the tenancy.

In practice, most traveling professionals leave on schedule because their assignment ends. But you should go in understanding the rule, screen carefully, and use a properly drafted lease. We cover this in detail in If I Rent My LA Place Furnished for 3 Months, Can My Tenant Refuse to Leave? and RSO or JCO? Which LA Rental Law Covers Your Furnished Unit.

LAHD also requires annual registration of rental units, a rent registry filing, and posting the city's renter protections and right-to-counsel notices.

If you'd rather not piece this together yourself, Keyseason is a marketplace for furnished 30+ day stays in LA, free for owners.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm with LA City Planning, LAHD and a California landlord-tenant attorney before renting.