Sounds like they previously banned short-term rentals but had trouble enforcing, thus this new regulation. > The coastal town of about 7,000 residents has pro

Sounds like they previously banned short-term rentals but had trouble enforcing, thus this new regulation. > The coastal town of about 7,000 residents has prohibited rentals under 30 days since January 2019, but is now making simply posting an ad for one of these illegal properties a punishable offense. Each day an advertisement remains online counts as a new violation, according to the new ordinance that was passed unanimously on Oct. 21, and the fines escalate sharply: $1,500 for a first offense, $3,000 for a second violation within the same year, and $5,000 for each additional violation. > Sausalito code enforcement officer Justin Goger-Malo, who took the position in February of this year, explained why this change was so crucial at a City Council meeting on Tuesday. Previously, enforcing proved to be a frustrating bottleneck as property owners disputed citations. “We’ll send out a citation, the property owner will then send us a screenshot which says, ‘Look, here it says my account’s been suspended and I canceled two reservations,’” Goger-Malo said. “It’s very easy to fake something like that.” Goger-Malo described working through six or seven cases simultaneously and receiving various forms of pushback from property owners claiming they had stopped short-term rentals or switched to longer terms. > The advertising ban eliminates this enforcement gap. “It’s going to allow us to say, ‘You advertised it. We see that it says there’s been a rental completed,’” said Goger-Malo. “Even if you’ve canceled that rental, we now have the means going forward to be able to take some of our time back in investigating these claims and say it’s the advertising that you’re being fined for now.”