Palm Springs cracks down on illegal vacation rentals

People accused of operating illegal rentals looked for mercy at an appeals hearing Monday in Palm Springs. Eight different cases brought on the agenda were all in violation of the city’s new ordinance.

Marina Zecevic was fined for operating a vacation rental without a permit. She said she was in the process of applying for one. But the city said she continued to advertise as a rental even without the permit.

“It’s a shame because the city is going to lose a lot of revenue. They fined, and fined, and fined, a lot of people who did not understand the rules that they implemented,” Zevevic said.

The board upheld the city’s $5,000 fine and now Zecevic is permanently ineligible to operate a vacation rental within the city. City Attorney Edward Kotkin said this is what Palm Springs needs to do in order to make good on its promise to residents.

“The vacation rental ordinance that Palm Springs has, has a lot of teeth. And it’s very aggressive because that’s what the City Council wanted to do. And wanted to achieve in adopting that ordinance,” Kotkin said.

While he couldn’t give an estimate on how many illegal rentals are operating within the city, he said this won’t be the last time the city addresses this issue.

“This is a necessary and positive process that goes with any city’s effort to enforce an ordinance,” Kotkin said.

Mike Ziskind, with the Protect Our Neighborhoods group, said it’s important to punish people who don’t follow the rules.

“It wouldn’t be fair to those people who respect our laws and who applied and who are running legal operations,” Ziskind said.