Vacation Rental Management FAQ
Our San Diego vacation rental agreements cover a wide variety of topics and legal aspects. The goal is to cover all topics and expectations you have regarding our vacation rental management services. This covers pricing, amenities, services, management fees, security deposits and more.
Furthermore, as advertised, our management agreement is fully customizable. This is done to prove that we see our relationship as a partnership. We want all our owners to be happy, and we want to provide exactly the type of service you expect.
Typically, our vacation rental management agreements span one year. However, they can vary based upon negotiations, trial periods, ect. If you have any questions about the length of the contract, and exactly what it entails, please contact us at (619) 800-1468 or with our San Diego vacation rental analysis form.
The vacation rental management fee can vary, but we firmly believe it is extremely competitive in the San Diego property management marketplace. Managing vacation rental properties is a fast-paced and demanding environment, but we have proven tactics to stay current with local industry pricing. We keep tabs on competitors, how much they charge, and what kinds of services are provided.
Additionally, the fee can vary based upon the needs of the owner. For example, if you would only like to use us as a booking agent, the fee will be lower than full-service vacation rental management.
We pay our owners at the beginning of each month, and in accordance with the California Trust Accounting laws. Typically, we hold all monies in escrow until the completion of a reservation. Any reservation which overlaps months can be paid out on the arrival month, if the reservation is completed by the time of our monthly accounting. If not, it will be rolled over to the following month’s statement and disbursement.
The City of San Diego requires a license as of May 1, 2023. We have posted a breakdown of the new short-term vacation laws. If you have any questions, please contact us or read through our article. If you are interested in Mission Beach vacation rental management, the city granted all their licenses to 30% of the Mission Beach Community Planning Area. There will be availability in the future to submit your application again, but not until then. Meanwhile only 1% of the rest of San Diego will be eligible, and this application period is still open.
Additionally, all short-term vacation rentals require a TOT certificate approved by the City of San Diego. We will apply for this certificate on your behalf, including paying the TOT tax monthly.
Should your vacation rental reside outside the San Diego city limits, we can provide support in applying for the correct licenses and permits in your area.
According to the City of San Diego’s website:
“The City of San Diego taxes the occupancy of any structure or any portion of any structure. TOT is calculated as a percentage of the rent for the occupancy of a structure or any portion of the structure. The law requires that Operators collect the tax from Transients. Operators hold TOT revenues in trust and remit them to the City Treasurer every month. If the Operator fails to collect the tax, the Operator is liable to the City for the amount of the tax due on the amount of taxable rent for the occupancy of the structure or any portion of the structure as if the Transient had paid the tax.”
Yes, we remit the TOT tax to the City of San Diego each month. This includes all taxes paid on the rental rate, fees, amenities, and any other add-on item to each reservation. Additionally, all third-party listing sites will remit the tax on our behalf each month. So if a reservation comes from Airbnb, or another site, they are responsible for paying the tax.
We have a history of filing TOT tax payments on time, and our owners never have to worry about them being submitted late or incorrectly.
There is a separate tax for out of state owners. According to the State of California’s Franchise Tax Board:
“Property managers are required to withhold 7% of the gross rent or lease payments in excess of $1,500 per calendar year, and remit those payments to us if they both:
1. Manage real property
2. Collect rent or lease payments for California property owners that reside outside of California (For California withholding purposes, nonresident owners include one of the following:
Individuals who reside outside of California
Corporations, Partnerships, and LLCs that do not have a permanent place of business in California or are not registered with the California Secretary of State to do business in California
Any trust without a resident grantor, beneficiary, or trustee, or estates where the decedent was not a California resident.”
According to the State of California’s Franchise Tax Board:
“For California withholding purposes, the following property owners are exempt from withholding:
California residents
Corporations, Partnerships and LLCs registered with the California Secretary of State to do business in California, or who have a permanent place of business in California
Estates where the deceased was a California resident at the time of death
Nonresident owners whose gross payments do not exceed $1,500 in a calendar year
California residents or corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies with a permanent place of business in California, use Form 590, Withholding Exemption Certificate, to certify an exemption from withholding. When a Form 590 exemption is certified, no withholding is required.
California nonresident property owners or property managers may qualify for a waiver or reduced withholding. To request a waiver from withholding submit Form 588, Nonresident Withholding Waiver Request. To request reduced withholding submit Form 589, Nonresident Reduced Withholding Request.”
Yes, per our vacation rental management agreement, we will send a 1099 to all owners for year-end tax purposes. Keep in mind, 1099 forms will show all rental income, which in some cases may also include cleaning fees.
All owners must have property damage and liability insurance. Owners also must name Titan Beach Rentals as additionally insured.
We recommend contacting your insurance agent for suggestions on the minimum amount of property damage coverage. For liability insurance, we recommend at least $1 million, and preferably requesting further advice from your agent.
The city of San Diego will be providing guidelines on vacation rental management signage in 2022. However, we will hang a sign at the property(s) which includes our name, TOT registration number, and emergency contact information, all in accordance with San Diego property management guidelines.
Per our vacation rental management agreement, we can pay all bills except mortgages.
The process consists of a property evaluation within the local market before signing a vacation rental management agreement, suggested items for upgrades, cleaning quotes, property listing setup on our website and all third-party websites, development of a marketing plan, and finally, going live.
We work with professional photography vendors and can provide pricing. We do require all properties to have professional photos. Without them, the marketing of your property would be severely impacted.
We will list your property on all available third-party websites, including our own, upload professional photos, write an optimized description for marketing and SEO, advertise on our social media, plus via custom retargeting and email campaigns.
Finally, we have state-of-the-art dynamic pricing software which will maximize your income and occupancy!
We list across many third-party sites such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, Trip Advisor, ect.
Using our customer database, we can market your property via our email newsletter, send a special email to guests who have rented a similar property in the past, and also develop retargeting campaigns.
We have a newsletter which is sent monthly to our customer database. We also have a blog which is updated regularly; featuring events, activities, local news and San Diego property management topics.
First, we approve invoices or repairs which come under the approved dollar limit. This amount is negotiated in the vacation rental management contract. Any estimate or repair which is beyond the agreed upon threshold, we will contact you for approval or recommendations.
Next, we perform routine departure and arrival inspections. We are constantly making sure the property is in ideal condition, including all utilities, electronics, exterior, ect.
Finally, we work with third-party vendors, which allow us to provide you with the best priced estimate for repairs. We do not have an internal maintenance department which looks for multiple items to fix and charge back to the owners, unlike our competitors. In fact, any item we can fix in-house, we will only charge for parts and NO labor.
All vendors must submit an application to be reviewed for proper insurance, licenses, ect.
If you have a personal cleaner you would like to use, they can also submit the proper forms of approval via our application process. As long as they meet our standards, including the type of cleaning required, we can absolutely use your own cleaners.
However, we do not permit our owners to clean their own property, as we guarantee professional cleaning for all our reservations.
Yes. In fact, we encourage our owners to provide specific cleaning instructions, if required. Otherwise, we will develop our own checklist to ensure the vendors thoroughly clean the property each time.
Our cleaners provide fresh linens and towels at no cost to our owners. If any are damaged or soiled, they will be replaced automatically during each cleaning.
We also provide a starter kit of one roll of paper towels, dish and hand soap, scrub brush, two trash bags, two rolls of toilet paper per bathroom, bath soap. We will periodically restock the trash bags, dish and laundry soap.
If there are any specialty items you would prefer the cleaners to restock during each cleaning, we can set that up as well.
Yes. We perform departure inspections and pre-arrival inspections. During same day turnovers, we inspect after the guests depart and again once the cleaning is completed.
Absolutely! Our owners have the first right to book dates and stay any time they please. All you need to do is give us a call, or send an email, with the dates you wish to stay and we will block those dates and schedule a departure cleaning. The same goes for any maintenance projects you wish to complete.
The minimum age to book a property is 25. If guests are not with a family or guardian(s), we reserve the right not to allow bookings of our properties unless everyone in the party is at least 25 years of age.
We do not allow any parties, including bachelor and bachelorette parties. If guests wish to have a small family gathering, a graduation or dinner party, they must first gain approval from Titan Beach Rentals.
We do not permit the occupancy to be beyond the limit posted on the property listing. We have a strict noise ordinance from 10 PM – 8 AM.
No smoking of any kind is permitted at any of our properties.
If the property is not pet friendly, guests will not be permitted to book with pets, and will be evicted if there is a pet on site.
Finally, all our guests must follow the San Diego Good Neighbor Policy.
If the guests meet all our requirements, we then charge a security deposit and require a valid ID on file.
Yes. All guests must sign the vacation rental agreement before the reservation is confirmed.
We have a 24/7 emergency contact number. This can be reached at (619) 800-1468 via call or text.