The most recent info here on weekly apartment rentals in San Francisco is several years old. We are accustomed to renting apartments in Europe instead of hotels. In doing a search in the SF area, however, this does not seem to be a typical situation. Can anyone recommend a website if there is one for SF rentals? Thanks

check out

craigslist.org

look under vacation rentals

or

vrbo.com

Do be aware that reviews are fake on sites above and

many fake "owners" tax cheats and scammers illegal too

use a REPUTABLE agency

never wire money always pay with credit card

Nice hotels bidding priceline.com betterbidding.com

from $50/nt always best safest for me.

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No more vacation rentals in San Francisco

by Julie Gerstein (RSS feed) on Aug 17th 2010 at 3:00PM

Bad news for those of you planning on renting an apartment for your next trip to San Francisco: it's illegal. It seems the city's long forgotten ordinance against residents renting out their apartments to tourists has of late been reinforced. The 1981 ordinance prohibits landlords from renting out to a tenant for a period of less than 30 days.

We will be staying here. The apartment has been "vetted" by a trusted friend that lives in SF. The owner and apartment checked out with flying colors.

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23636

Except that they're committing a crime.

Here is something I posted last year about guest houses.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...valley-bbs.cfm

Stu Dudley

I'm no expert obviously, but the "crackdown" on illegal rentals certainly hasn't had much effect that I can see or hear about. Many, many people with the economy hurting so badly do rent out rooms in their houses and I haven't heard of any major action clamping down on that.

That said, there aren't really any "reputable agencies" specifically for vacation rentals as it is illegal. HOWEVER do be careful w/ craigslist postings as it's very difficult to tell which are scams.

DebitNM,

That is a gorgeous apartment ! Lucky you.

Forgot to mention that my daughter and I rented an apartment in Venice, Italy through Craigslist.

We had several emails back and forth and the owner did not ask for any money up front.

So basically we were both taking a risk. It was a wonderful apartment, just as advertised and the owner insisted that we only give him the first day's rent and pay the balance upon check out. A very trusting, delightful man.

There are quite a few honest people in this world. Unfortunately it is usually the bad ones that we hear about.

Am checking with the operators of website Wimdu.com. They have lots of apartments in SF along with other cities. Have asked specifically if weekly apt rentals in SF are legal or not. If they are, there are plenty of choices on this website.

Will let you know what I find out. Thanks everyone for all the help with this.

wimdu is basically a clone of airbnb.

http://www.eu-startups.com/2011/05/w...-airbnb-clone/

Ok I live in SF and I can tell you that LEGALLY the apartments are NOT legal unless the owners have a business license and pay taxes and the buildings are zones as Ok for short term tenancies. About 90% don't. SO if you want an answer simply to the legal question, they are not. Whether it's enforced is the question.