This is where A-listers like to stay when they need a rental in Hollywood

Hollywood A-listers seem to buy and sell wildly expensive trophy homes as frequently as the rest of us grocery shop – but not all of the rich and famous want a permanent base.

Los Angeles is teeming with rich and famous house hunters who want nothing more than a temporary crash pad. But they’re no ordinary tenants – their version of a suitable rental is a massively pimped-up version by anyone’s standards, and their biggest issue is finding something good enough.

“There’s a premium on desirable rentals because there really aren’t that many of them,” Barry Sloane told US website Variety.

Mr Sloane, along with his partner Mac Silver, represents a highly coveted rental located in Los Feliz, a hillside neighbourhood in the central region of Los Angeles that borders Hollywood and incorporates part of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The property, which Mr Sloane told Variety is owned by a financier who spends half the year in New York, has become a favourite with visiting musicians. And while it’s available from May to Thanksgiving (late November), it’s no Airbnb rental.

Officially listed for $US12,000 ($17,800) a month, it has been known to cost more, depending on how stiff the competition is to secure it at any one time.

“The availability of this house depends largely on what’s going on in town in the entertainment industry,” Sloane told Variety.

And while he is not at liberty to divulge the list of past tenants at the house, he told Variety that part of its appeal is its absolute privacy.

“It almost feels like a castle with a moat,” he says. “It has a long, very steep driveway and from inside the house you can see anyone who attempts to enter the property.

“It also has a guesthouse with an address that’s actually on another street, and that’s one of the property’s major pluses. It takes several minutes to drive from one entrance to the other, and if paparazzi are following you, you can exit from a different driveway.

“There’s a bodyguard house on the grounds, too.”

Marc Silver told Variety the ideal rental for the rich and famous is one that provides them with the most peace.

“High profile people value privacy,” Silver points out, “and living someplace that feels protected is a high priority for them.

“You want an inconspicuous residence that can’t be seen from the street, and can’t be overlooked from houses at a higher elevation, which is often the more difficult part. It’s easier to protect a house from the street than it is to secure it from aerial views.”

Of course, privacy isn’t the only priority. Space is another big one.

“Several big names have security teams at their homes 24 hours a day, and if they stay in a rental it has to have room for those people,” says Sloane.

“There’s a house in the Hollywood Hills that used to belong to Dan Aykroyd that we rented out for years. Dan had a big security detail and we rented it to a succession of people who had security concerns. The maids’ quarters were at the front of the house, and acted as a perfect bodyguard set-up.”

The rental at Los Feliz is the perfect example of somewhere secure but still beautiful.

Boasting four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a pool on a large block of private land, it’s considered an oasis for wealthy out-of-towners.

Sloane told Variety that rental houses can acquire a pedigree by virtue of who’s previously rented them – occasionally one of them becomes legendary.

“During the ’80s and ’90s the most famous rental house in LA was this little cottage at the end of a long private driveway up on Woodrow Wilson Drive,” says Sloane.

“It overlooked the entire valley, it had a big modern addition with a sports court, and everyone from Al Pacino to Princess Diana stayed there.

“For 20 years it was the most legendary house in LA.”