A month in Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles taxes transients, people who occupy a room for 30 consecutive days or less, at 14% of the rent. A longer stay is exempt when there is a written agreement at check-in to stay more than 30 days, or when 31 days or more are paid in advance. Without that, the Office of Finance says, the first 30 days are taxed and only the days after are exempt, so ask the hotel to record the agreement in writing at check-in, for example on the City's over-30-days exemption form.

The 2% Tourism Marketing District assessment is not charged on stays of more than 30 consecutive days. In Santa Monica the 15% hotel tax does not apply to a person who occupies a room for 31 or more consecutive days.

A month of more than 30 consecutive days in a furnished apartment is also outside the City's short-term rental rules, which cover rentals of 30 consecutive days or less.

California's Civil Code excludes from its landlord and tenant chapter the transient occupancy of a hotel or similar lodging that is, or would be, subject to a city hotel tax, and the Revenue and Taxation Code lets cities tax only occupancies of 30 days or less. A residential hotel may not make a guest move, or check out and register again, before 30 days if a purpose is to keep the guest transient; the civil penalty is USD 500.

What a longer stay becomes depends on the arrangement, so read the agreement before paying: a monthly booking on a platform, a hotel's long-stay rate and a lease are different contracts.

Venice, Hollywood and Downtown fall under the City of Los Angeles rules above, and Downtown sits at the hub of the Metro rail network, which helps on days without the car. Santa Monica suits a month as a hotel stay or a rental of more than 30 days, since whole-home rentals without the host present are prohibited there. Westchester works for the first and last nights near LAX. These choices are editorial.

Visitors from the 42 Visa Waiver Program countries, among them the UK and 24 of the 27 EU countries (not Bulgaria, Cyprus or Romania), can stay up to 90 days for tourism or business without a visa, with an approved ESTA applied for before travel. The stay cannot be extended. ESTA costs USD 40.27 (USD 10.27 if refused) and is valid for two years, or until the passport expires if that is sooner. The application now asks for a selfie.

A side trip to Canada, Mexico or a Caribbean island does not restart the 90 days: the visitor comes back for the rest of the original admission period. US Customs and Border Protection records the arrival electronically, with an admit-until date that can be checked on its arrival-record website.

Airbnb calls 28 nights or more a monthly stay. The first month is charged up front and released to the host 24 hours after check-in, later months are charged 10 days before each period, and a long-term cancellation policy applies that generally needs 30 days' notice of changes. In Los Angeles a booking must run longer than 30 consecutive days to leave the City's short-term rental definition and the transient tax.

On the street, a car may not stay in one place for more than 72 hours without moving, and temporary no-parking signs can go up with 24 hours' notice, so check the street each day. In a preferential parking district, a resident host can buy one-day guest permits, up to 25 a day per household; ask how the host will cover a month. A garage space avoids both, and in the City a hotel's parking charge carries a 10% tax.

Checking in without the over-30-days paperwork. Without a written agreement or 31 days paid ahead, the first 30 days stay taxed.

Booking a whole home in Santa Monica for a short stay without the host. That is a prohibited vacation rental there.

Counting on an ESTA extension. The Visa Waiver Program allows none.

Leaving a car on the street for the month. The 72-hour rule applies across the City.