Private Home Rentals In Big Bear
Owning a second home in a resort market like Big Bear offers numerous benefits. Many people who decide to purchase a cabin in Big Bear do so because of the income-generating potential of renting it out as a vacation rental. Vacation rental properties can yield significant returns, financially and otherwise. A significant number of private homes in Big Bear are used as vacation rentals in some capacity. The private home rental industry is critical to the health and vitality of the Big Bear Lake economy. Private home rentals account for over 50% of the city’s transient occupancy tax (TOT) and 25% of the city’s sales tax; contributing an estimated $1M to an annual city budget of about $10M.
What You Need To Know About CPRPRO*
CPRPRO stands for Citizens Protecting the Rights of Property Owners. Big Bear Valley’s Private Home Rental Association formed CPRPRO specifically to protect the rights of private homeowners who rent their homes as vacation rentals in Big Bear.
Over a decade ago, the private home rental industry in the valley had begun to come under scrutiny and criticism. Local residents were unhappy with private home rentals due to unregulated overcrowding, noise, illegal parking, and general disregard for the environment as evidenced by trash and damage to homes and property. This was a legitimate concern that snowballed into a threat to homeowners’ rights and to an industry integral in supporting the growth and prosperity of Big Bear.
An initiative was raised that would have eliminated the legal function of private home rentals in Big Bear. The threat was real and had to be dealt with. CPRPRO went to court in 2008 and; after spending $300,000 of its members’ money litigating, defending and fighting lawsuits and an appeal; they eventually invalidated the initiative.
CPRPRO understood the concern of the local residents and addressed it in the form of creating standardized code enforcement. This code enforcement would come to include a paid-for 24/7 answering service that responds to complaints and holds homeowners and vacation rental companies accountable to rules and regulations that help maintain the quality of life for local residents. CPRPRO worked with the City of Big Bear Lake to rewrite its private home rental ordinances to assure that renters “behave” in the neighborhoods and that local residents can rely on prompt and effective response to problems that do occur.
The Battle Continues
The attack on private homeowners’ rights to rent their homes as vacation rentals in Big Bear is not over, and as long as there are forces with agendas to eliminate this right, it never will be over.
CPRPRO defended two local private home rental agencies against an ADA lawsuit brought by the same attorney who was involved in the original initiative. On August 6, 2010, Federal District Judge Dolly Gee ruled in CPRPRO’s favor and dismissed the lawsuit. No appeal was filed. The total cost for CPRPRO’s defense in the ADA lawsuit was over $250,000. The Big Bear Association of Realtors contributed $10,000 from its IMPAC funds. Interboard solicitations contributed over $50,000. The California Association of Realtors contributed $75,000. Without the local and statewide CAR IMPAC funds, CPRPRO would not have been able to defeat the ADA lawsuit.
CPRPRO is currently defending a lawsuit against a Big Bear Lake homeowner who rents his home as a vacation rental. He is being sued because a 1941 CC&R in their tract states that: “No trade nor business shall be conducted in the tract.” It is important that CPRPRO prevails in court to show that the rental of a private home is neither a trade nor business being conducted in the home. The business is being conducted at the rental agency’s office.
There will be more efforts to thwart homeowners’ rights to rent their homes as vacation rentals, but with CPRPRO in place and prevailing against these attacks, Big Bear property owners can feel confident that their rights will be protected. CPRPRO is a vigilant association endeavoring to protect homeowners’ rights and to allow for Big Bear to continue to prosper from this important industry.
*Update: CPRPRO is now known as Big Bear Vacation Rental Management Association. For more information, visit the BBVRMA website here.
I see nothing hear that addresses extremely loud renters. Shouting, yelling and knocking either day or night in a backyard directly behind us. Calling the 24/7 number simply registers a complaint and nothing about the immediate issue.
We are permanent residents who live in a very quiet neighborhood….except when the party crews arrive. Local residents have rights as well, and the Code does absolutely nothing to “assure that renters behave”. Rental owners can do much to reduce this tension by being more involved with their community and the people actually live here.
Hello Bob,
Thank you for your comments.
Every legal and compliant vacation rental property in the City of Big Bear Lake is required to display a code compliance sign visible on the front of the property. At the top of these signs, there should be the phone number of either the owner of the property or the property manager for the vacation rental. You should always call them to report your grievance. Upon reporting the grievance, ask, “when can I expect to see a resolution?”.
On the sign below this phone number is the allowed occupancy for the cabin. If there is an obvious violation of the maximum occupancy, with or without noise, that is a legitimate grievance and should be logged and called in.
On the sign below the occupancy limit is the number of vehicles allowed to park at the property. Again, any violation of the maximum number of vehicles allowed to park should be called into the management company as a grievance.
Beneath that on the sign is the phone number to code enforcement, paid for by the vacation rental industry to facilitate a respectful industry. You should call this number if you do not see any resolution on violations you observe. Be sure to call this number after you call the management company. You can contact the vacation rental management company and advise that renters need to be made aware of noise control i.e., “noise controlled area, quiet after 9pm is required”.
This may seem like a lot of work, however, if you reach out to the property management company in a spirit of cooperation to solve the problem, you may see a significant improvement and satisfaction. Your life should not be made less enjoyable by disruptive guests who have not been properly informed on behavioral expectations. If you are greeted with disregard or lack of effort to help restore your quality of living, your thoroughly documented log of violations and inadequate response could result in the property losing its vacation rental privileges.
We recommend following this strategy explicitly. If you are met with little to no concern for your circumstances by the industry, please post another comment. We take this issue very seriously.
For the record, there are home owners who simply do not like the vacation rental industry. They have been known to inflame and exaggerate in order to “win” by squashing the vacation rental home owner neighbor. Behaving neighborly is the only path to vindication.
You guys are all about protecting property owners who want to rent and management companies. What about my families rights? Why am I spending this Saturday night calling “Code Enforcement”, the SO, and the management company? We have tried all of your suggestions listed above to no avail. I have 18 BCN complaint numbers on one house alone! I document every call and conversation with the Code Enforcement, the SO, and the management company. My question is do I have to wait until I have 25 or 50 BCN numbers until my voice is heard? By the time I get to those numbers I am sure some attorney will assist me on suing the property owner and the City!
Patrick: Your post is of HUGE concern to us and should be of huge concern to all you have reached out to. Your right to a peaceful healthy existence in your home in Big Bear is actually more relevant than the rights of the home owner of the property causing the disruption. It sounds like you have a solid personal log of events with the violating property. Photos are a big help in supporting and proving your case. Recordings of excessive noise are also helpful. We are more than happy to help support your position because we DO care very much about how our tourist accommodation industry impacts the quality of life of the full time local resident. Please reach out to Erin Lanza directly for a property owners rights advocate in the real estate industry. It would be a good thing to get the satisfaction you need without your having to seek legal representation. If you ultimately do not get an adequate result following the rules and policies of code enforcement you indeed may be left with no other option. It is very discouraging to us when legal recourse becomes required because the system is failing a local home owner. As we all know, every system has its moments of failure, and you can be sure that this real estate team takes very seriously the harm these failings cause. Our team is not a formal participant of code enforcement however we are a relevant voice of representation. Property owner rights go both ways.
I would like to make a comment as a owner/renter of a cabin. I pride myself on having some of the best people visiting my cabin. I use only VRBO which has a great screening system that for the vast majority of time, yields great guests.
I would also like to remind the local residents that they are NOT always as pleasant as the above post suggests! As a matter of fact, my former neighbors (thank goodness they are not there anymore) vandalized my property twice. They played their music loud and partied many nights, and harassed my guests on many occasions. How did I know it was them that vandalized my cabin? I have it (stilll) saved on my cam system!
Did I report it? No, I was very worried about retribution!
This is a 2 way street that requires simple mutual respect.
May I remind locals that without the 11% tax on all rentals, yes 11% that go to the general fund of Big Bear city, there would be a huge gap in operating expenses for the city!
Keep that in mind also that because of all the extra capacity that private rentals provide for visitors, all of the businesses that heavily rely on those visitors would take a hard hit if it was not for what we provide!
First of all thank you for being a responsible and considerate vacation rental property owner. Owners like you are essential to the success and vitality of the vacation rental business in Big Bear. You are absolutely correct, disruptive activity in a Big Bear cabin is not relegated only to vacation renters. I am happy you are no longer plagued with damage and disruption at your cabin. When it appears a permanent occupant of a cabin is causing relevant distress the first thing to determine is if the resident is a tenant or the owner of the property as that would impact your course of action to address the problem. If it is a tenant, contacting the home owner first is best. That home owner may be suffering as you are and in the process of trying to remedy the situation or even worse, have no idea there is a problem. A calm solution-oriented conversation with the home owner regarding a damaging and disruptive tenant could set you both on track for a solution as you are the eyes on the scene for them and can be a huge help. Homeowners that rent their cabins to long term occupants often live a distance away and that is a huge handicap when trying to address such an issue as an undesirable long term tenant. Becoming a “team” with a common objective is a very good start. If you find the home owner is not concerned with your plight, the same strategy applies of logging, videoing, and reporting to the local authorities. It can be a time consuming process but without sufficient evidence authorities have little leverage to assist. Property rights for long term renters are stringent and favor the renter.
If the owner of the property is the disruptive neighbor, caution is advised as you are not present to keep a watch on your property. A civil exchange that is non confrontational would be the first task. If this leaves you without a feeling of being heard and understood, you will need to record, video and report. Cameras directed AWAY from your property would be recommended to capture any vandalism, however the cameras should never be recording activity inside the house while guests are present.
Your post indicates you did all you could in a reasonable fashion and I hope your experience did not sour your love for Big Bear. Oddly enough your experience happens in all areas and some just get stuck in an ugly situation. I too would be very concerned about retribution but if you have a crime on tape that is as compelling as it gets and taking the time to come to Big Bear and make sure authorities address how you have been victimised is important. Authorities are very busy and like all businesses and govt organizations a squeaky wheel often is going to get the grease.
Your point about the value of visitor tax dollars is 100% true. The economic vitality locals enjoy is a direct byproduct of visitor money flowing into our town. Most appreciate this. The history of code enforcement is a very complete anecdote relaying this point accurately. Big Bear has been riding the battle of the local residents vs the tourist visitors quandry for years. We are presently in the best place ever regarding a balance between the two. There was a time when the vacation rental industry was in legitimate danger of becoming illegal. The vacation rental industry and local Big Bear real estate community fought very hard and contributed a great deal of money to retain the right to rent one’s property as a vacation rental. I would be very happy to share this history with you. You would find that far more locals agree with the harmonious practice of vacation renting than do not. Property rights are indeed a two-way street.
The very best of us find a way to navigate this often challenging and controversial aspect of Big Bear in a kind and civil manner. There will always be parties on both sides that get to see the very worst of it. Shining a light on it is important. Your post and this response will be shared with BBVRMA (formerly CPRPRO) as both sides of this very important property owner rights issue are important. Thank you for your input. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like more information.
Erin Lanza