The City of Vista is suing a homeowner, accusing him of operating a short-term rental without a license as well as being a public nuisance. NBC 7 investigative reporter Alexis Rivas explains.
Bill Froelich couldn’t have been happier to watch the moving truck pull out of the driveway across from his home in Vista in late March.
“Bye!,” Froelich said as he waved at his departing neighbor. “It’s joyous. I feel bad even saying that because they are humans too. But the way they just disrespected this whole neighborhood was just -- I don’t even know how to describe someone who would do that.”
Froelich said the last 17 months were a nightmare and described loud parties that ran well into the morning. Some had a swarm of people who appeared to pay for wristbands at the front door. The parties included booming DJ raves in the backyard, guests urinating in adjacent lawns and leaving behind broken bottles or worse in his front yard.
“Going to sleep after something like that is out of the question,” Froelich said. “The blood pressure goes up. The anger goes up.”
Now the party’s over. The City of Vista declared the home a public nuisance and filed a civil lawsuit against the father-and-son property owners.
A for-sale sign is posted in front of the Crescent Drive home and the sale is listed as pending on real estate websites.
The city’s civil complaint said the home was listed as “The Fun House” on Airbnb, VRBO and other vacation rental sites since the beginning of 2024. The issue, it said, is that the home was never licensed with the city and the owner never paid any of the Transient Occupancy Taxes associated with those rentals.
The lawsuit is seeking $17,875 in administrative fines, collection of all unpaid tax money and $1,500 for every day it violated the city’s licensing ordinance.
Local
NBC 7 Investigates was at the home in March when Daniel Soraci, the property owner’s son, was moving furniture out. At the time, he told us he was too busy to talk to us. When we arranged for an interview at a San Diego park a few days later, he stood us up.
He appeared at a Vista City Council meeting in early March and said he hadn’t been aware of the local licensing laws, which went into effect on July 1, 2024.
“When I first started my Airbnb I was completely new to the process,” Soraci said. “I completely acknowledge that when I first started I had guests who took advantage of the backyard space and hosted parties that got out of control. I understand how frustrating this must be for my neighbors and I sincerely apologize for those early disturbances.”
Vista’s lawsuit says those disturbances resulted in San Diego County deputies being called out to the home nearly 20 times since the beginning of 2024.
“It is a waste of public resources to continuously send our deputies to this home,” Councilmember Dan O’Donnell said. “There are many other important things that they could be out there doing and this is not one of them.”
According to the lawsuit, the city made multiple attempts to get the property owners to comply with the law. They even said the father and son contacted the city last September about getting a short-term rental license but never followed through with the process.
But now even if they wanted a license, Vista’s Mayor John Franklin told them it wouldn’t grant one.
“You’ve put us to the test here,” Franklin said. “You’re disingenuous and dishonest in implying that you didn’t know. You knew. You knew you were causing this problem. You ignored the neighbors. You didn’t have respect for other human beings in society. You treated other people with disregard for their property and their concerns so that you could make a profit. You used a greed motive to mistreat other people. That's one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen in a long time.”
The mayor then suggested that Soraci sell the home, warning him that any further violations would result in the city taking action beyond simply declaring the property a public nuisance.
The council’s warning on March 11 appeared to have been ignored, according to the lawsuit. It stated the Soracis rented out the home on numerous occasions after the council meeting. On March 20, the City of Vista filed the lawsuit.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Froelich said. “I think that the mayor and the council stepped up in a huge way.”
Getting other Vista properties into compliance
The home on Crescent Drive isn’t the only unlicensed short-term rental in the City of Vista. A spokesperson told us the city sent out 95 letters to short-term rental property owners in March who had not yet registered to get licenses. It says 18 of them immediately applied and another 35 reached out for more information.
NBC 7 Investigates also found 44 apparently unlicensed properties within Vista city limits available to rent on Airbnb.
Prior to sending the letters, the City of Vista had only contacted homeowners individually after getting complaints.
The Vista spokesperson told us the city was taking other steps to make sure people know about the licensing requirement:
"These include providing information through city communications, outreach programs, contracting with a short-term rental identification platform provider, and coordinating with other platforms such as Airbnb to ensure compliance.
"To enforce the STR license requirement, Vista is utilizing a combination of proactive monitoring, including inspections and addressing complaints, and working closely with Code Enforcement to ensure violations are dealt with promptly. The city has also been focusing on educating property owners and renters about the new requirements and the potential consequences of non-compliance."
NBC 7 Investigates reached out to Airbnb to see what steps it takes to ensure the properties listed on its site are in compliance with local licensing laws. Airbnb encourages hosts to check if their city requires a license but doesn’t alert or block hosts from listing rooms without one.
It has a page on its website with information on how to be a responsible host, with links to some localities and their rules. Vista isn’t on the list.
Airbnb provided this statement:
“Airbnb prohibits disruptive parties and so-called "party houses". Although we've had no reports of parties during Airbnb stays at this property in the last year, we suspended the listing from our platform last month. We provide a 24/7 Neighborhood Support Line so neighbors can report issues they believe may be linked to Airbnb directly to us, and we take the reports we receive seriously.”
Airbnb also says the host was also removed from its site after it reviewed violations of various policies and standards.
VBRO didn’t respond to our request for comment.
