Can You Airbnb Your Gardena House? What the City's Short Term Rental Rules Mean for Owners

Published July 25, 2026

Gardena bans whole home short term rentals and allows only home sharing where the owner lives on site, under an ordinance the council passed 4 to 1.

If you own a house in Gardena and imagined listing the whole place on Airbnb while you are away, the city closed that door. Gardena's council passed Ordinance 1851 by a 4 to 1 vote, and it does one thing clearly. Short term rentals of an entire home are not permitted. What the city does allow is home sharing, where you still live in the home and rent a room while you are present.

What the ordinance actually says

The distinction the council drew is between renting your whole home and sharing the one you live in. The ordinance text is direct about it. In the words of the ordinance itself, "The City Council wishes to make clear that short-terms rentals of an entire home are not permitted." That single sentence rules out the most common setup, the one where an owner lists a vacant house or a second property for travelers and never sets foot inside during the stay.

What survives is home sharing. The council's reasoning, quoted in the Gardena Valley News coverage of the vote, is that "home sharing does not create the same adverse impacts as unsupervised short-term rentals when the home-shares are hosted by the owner or a qualifying resident who lives on site and is present to regulate guests' behavior." The presence of a real person living there is the whole point. The city is betting that an owner asleep down the hall keeps a lid on the noise, the parking, and the parties that neighbors complain about.

The vote happened at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, and it was not unanimous. Four members voted to introduce the ordinance and one, Council Member Wanda Love, voted against it. I mention the split only because a 4 to 1 margin tells you this was settled policy, not a close call that might swing back next month.

Which properties qualify, and which do not

Not every building in Gardena can host a home share, even under the narrower rules. The ordinance limits eligibility to single family homes and duplexes. Apartments are excluded. And the property has to be the operator's primary residence, meaning the place they actually live, not an investment unit they visit.

Put those pieces together and the picture is fairly tight. You have to own or live in a single family home or a duplex, it has to be your main home, and you have to be there when guests are. A landlord who owns a fourplex cannot run a home share out of it. An owner who lives in Torrance and keeps a rental house in Gardena cannot list a room in that house, because it is not where they live. The rule is built around a resident host, not a portfolio.

There is one more piece worth flagging carefully, because it is not fully settled in the record I can verify. When staff brought the proposal forward, they recommended limiting the number of short term rentals any one person can operate, along with limiting the number of people per bedroom. Those were staff recommendations. The article reporting the vote does not spell out a final number that made it into the adopted ordinance. So if you are trying to figure out an exact cap, that is a question for the city, not something I would want to state as fact and have you rely on.

What this means for your building

For most Gardena owners, the practical takeaway is short. Whole home short term rental is not a legal use of your property here, so it should not be part of how you value the building or how you underwrite a purchase. If a broker or a spreadsheet pencils out your Gardena house on the strength of nightly Airbnb income, the math is built on something the city does not allow, and you should discount it to zero.

Home sharing is a real but narrow option, and it only works if the numbers behind it are real too. It requires you to live there, to be present during stays, and to accept a stranger in your home on a rotating basis. That is a lifestyle decision as much as an income one. For an owner who lives in the home and wants to offset a mortgage by renting a spare room to travelers, the door is open, within the single family or duplex limits.

For an owner whose plan was passive income from a property they do not occupy, the answer in Gardena is a conventional lease. A standard one year tenancy in a single family home or a small building is the use the city is built around, and it is the one that produces steady, predictable rent without putting you on the wrong side of an ordinance. It is less glamorous than a nightly rate, but it is the income you can actually count on, and it does not depend on you being home to supervise it.

If you already run a short term rental in Gardena that does not fit the home sharing shape, the safe assumption is that it is now out of step with the ordinance, and the safe move is to confirm your exact standing with the city before your next booking rather than after a complaint.

Common questions

Can I rent my whole Gardena house on Airbnb while I am on vacation?

No. The ordinance states plainly that short term rentals of an entire home are not permitted. The allowed form is home sharing, where you live in the home and are present while guests stay. Renting the whole house while you are away is exactly what the rule forbids.

I own a fourplex in Gardena. Can I list one of the units short term?

Based on the ordinance as reported, no. Eligibility is limited to single family homes and duplexes that are the operator's primary residence, and apartments are excluded. A fourplex would not qualify, and a unit you do not live in would not either. Confirm the specifics with the city before assuming otherwise.

Is there a limit on how many short term rentals one person can run?

City staff recommended limiting the number one person can operate, but I cannot verify a final number in the adopted ordinance from the public reporting. If a cap matters to your plans, ask the City of Gardena directly rather than relying on an estimate.

Last verified: July 25, 2026. Details here are drawn from Gardena Valley News reporting on Ordinance 1851, introduced by the Gardena City Council on August 22, 2023. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice. Confirm current short term rental permit rules, eligibility, and any operating caps with the City of Gardena and a licensed professional before you act.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: market, gardena, south-bay, short-term-rentals, regulation

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