Short-term rental rules · Dana Point, California
Short-term rentals in Dana Point, explained properly.
The City of Dana Point, in Orange County, California, requires a short-term rental permit under Chapter 5.38 of its Municipal Code before anyone rents, offers or advertises a dwelling for stays of at least two nights and up to 30 days. Outside the Coastal Zone, permits are capped at 115, no more than 60 of them for non-primary rentals, with a waitlist once the cap is reached. Home stay and primary residence permits require the owner's presence or domicile, primary residence rentals are limited to 60 days a year, and one permit is allowed per owner. A permit does not pass to a buyer. Operators need $1,000,000 in liability insurance, a City transient occupancy tax registration, two off-street parking spaces, a 24-hour contact who responds within 30 minutes, and the permit number in every advertisement. Permits renew each year, and a third violation revokes the permit. This page covers the City of Dana Point only, and the rules for the Coastal Zone, which sit in a separate Coastal Development Permit, have not been captured. We haven't reviewed the Zoning Code, the transient occupancy tax chapter or the fee schedule yet, so confirm zoning, the Coastal Zone boundary, HOA rules and fees with the City before you buy.
At a glance
What you need to know before you buy or list
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Are short-term rentals allowed? | Conditional: allowed with a City STR permit, only in zoning districts where residential uses are allowed, and only while permits are available under a cap of 115 outside the Coastal Zone; accessory dwelling units, junior ADUs and affordable units are excluded. Coastal Zone rules and the zoning code haven't been reviewed yet [1] ClauseConfirming |
| Is a City short-term rental permit required? | Yes: no one may rent, offer or advertise a dwelling as an STR without a valid City permit, inside or outside the Coastal Zone. Excluded: accessory dwelling units, junior ADUs and affordable housing units cannot get a permit [1] Clause |
| Is there a cap on the number of STR permits? | Yes: 115 permits outside the Coastal Zone, and no more than 60 of them may be non-primary STRs; a waitlist opens once the maximum is issued [1] Clause |
| Must the owner live at the property? | Conditional: required for home stay and multiple-family home stay permits (owner present 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) and primary residence permits (the dwelling must be the owner's domicile); non-primary STRs may be managed through an agent [1] Clause |
| Is there a minimum stay? | Yes: a minimum of two consecutive nights; the chapter covers rentals of no more than 30 consecutive calendar days [1] Clause |
| Is there a yearly limit on rental days? | Yes: a primary residence STR may be rented for a maximum of 60 days per 12-month period, counted from the date the permit is issued, unless CC&Rs restrict it further [1] Clause |
| Can a permit be transferred to a new owner? | Conditional: not on a sale, because the permit expires when title transfers; it may be transferred after an inheritance or a family transfer with no new property tax assessment, to family members of the prior owner, with City approval [1] Clause |
| Can an accessory dwelling unit be used as a short-term rental? | No: no STR permit is issued for an accessory dwelling unit, a junior accessory dwelling unit, a unit created as part of a single-family residential duplex, or a unit designated as affordable housing [1] Clause |
| Is a property owner limited to one STR permit? | Yes: one permit for one dwelling per property owner, across all STR categories; permits issued earlier that conflict stay valid until they expire or are revoked [1] Clause |
| Is there a limit on STR units in a multiple-family building? | Yes: a permit cannot create a hotel (six or more guest rooms or suites); buildings with five or fewer units may convert one unit, and buildings with six or more units may convert up to 20% of the units [1] Clause |
| Must an STR be allowed by HOA rules or CC&Rs? | Yes: the application needs proof that HOA CC&Rs or community guidelines do not prohibit the STR [1] Clause |
| Is liability insurance required? | Yes: proof of $1,000,000 combined single limit general liability insurance plus an indemnity agreement with the application, and proof of current insurance at each renewal [1] Clause |
Watch this market
Want to know when Dana Point's rules change?
We watch Dana Point's official rule pages, council agendas and California legislation. When a change affecting short-term rentals is proposed or passed, we email you what changed, when it takes effect, and a link to the source.
Alerts are free. Own in several cities? Pro will track every rule for your whole portfolio.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.
Detailed rules
The full picture, section by section
Permit and license process
| Must the permit be renewed every year? | Yes: annually on March 1 (or another date set by the Community Development Director), with current insurance and, for primary residence and home stay permits, proof the dwelling is still the owner's primary residence [1] Clause Renewals include any changes to the regulations and proof of current liability insurance (Sec. 5.38.070(a)). Primary residence and home stay renewals need a continuing homeowner's exemption plus a second proof of domicile (Sec. 5.38.070(b)); multiple-family home stay renewals need proof that a dwelling on the parcel remains the owner's primary residence (Sec. 5.38.070(c)). Neighbors are notified at issuance and each renewal (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(4)). The City may inspect at any reasonable time, including before renewals (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(5)). |
|---|---|
| How is a permit applied for? | The owner files a City application with the Community Development Director; when permits are all issued, owners join a waitlist and renew their place each year [1] Clause The application lists the owners, any agent, the dwelling address, the transient occupancy tax registration certificate, insurance proof, primary-residence evidence where applicable, the HOA/CC&R proof and an acknowledgment of the STR regulations (Sec. 5.38.050). A selected waitlist owner has 14 days to submit a complete application (Sec. 5.38.060(e)). The waitlist fee equals the permit fee and is credited to the first year's fee; it is refundable on written removal (Sec. 5.38.060(d), (f)). A waitlist position is not transferable and must be verified annually (Sec. 5.38.060(a), (b)). |
| What does a permit cost? | The permit fee is set by the City Council; the fee schedule hasn't been reviewed yet, so the dollar amount isn't shown here. Home stay, primary residence, multiple-family home stay and mixed-use parcel permits pay 75% of the total fee [1] ClauseConfirming Sec. 5.38.050(m) refers to the fee established by the City Council, and Sec. 5.38.030(b)(1) sets the reduced fee at the total fee multiplied by 0.75. Confirm the current fee and its effective date with the City. |
| Are neighbors told when a permit is issued? | Yes: City staff send notice to abutting owners and tenants when a permit is issued and at each renewal, with the owner's 24-hour contact and the City hotline; the notice gives neighbors no protest or appeal rights [1] Clause The notice also gives the Code Enforcement and Orange County Sheriff's Department phone numbers (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(4)). In a multiple-family dwelling the owners and tenants of the other units on the parcel or in the structure are notified. |
Operating rules
| Is there an occupancy limit? | Yes: overnight occupancy of two persons per bedroom plus two additional persons; daytime occupancy of two and one-half times the overnight limit, up to 20 persons; the Director may approve more [1] Clause The Community Development Director may approve a greater overnight or daytime maximum when unusual size, layout, parking or other physical characteristics are shown (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(13)). Each rental agreement and posting must state the maximum number of occupants (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(17)(A)). |
|---|---|
| What parking is required? | A minimum of two off-street parking spaces; no more than one vehicle for a one-bedroom unit, or two vehicles for units with two or more bedrooms, unless the Director approves more [1] Clause The owner must ensure enough parking spaces are accessible to tenants for the maximum number of vehicles allowed (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(7), (14)). Rental agreements must state the number of parking spaces and, if not adjacent, where assigned parking is (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(17)(B)). |
| Is a 24-hour contact required, and how fast must they respond? | Yes: a 24-hour emergency contact; the owner or agent must act to abate a complaint within 30 minutes and may be required to arrive on site within 30 minutes [1] Clause The owner or agent must act within 30 minutes of notification of unreasonable noise, disorderly conduct or violations and prevent a recurrence (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(19)). The primary renter must be an adult who gives a telephone number and is reachable at all times (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(10)). |
| What are the quiet hours? | 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.: outside noise from the STR must not be heard [1] Clause Sec. 5.38.080(a)(20). Owners must also ensure occupants do not create unreasonable noise or disturbances (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(18)). |
| Is there a minimum age for the renter? | Yes: the primary overnight and daytime renter, who must also stay at the STR, must be an adult 25 years of age or older [1] Clause Before occupancy the owner or agent obtains the primary adult occupant's name, address and driver's license number or passport copy, a signed acknowledgment of legal responsibility for all occupants, and a signed City Good Neighbor Acknowledgment (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(10), (11)). |
| Must an advertisement show the permit number? | Yes: the City-issued permit number goes in the subject line and description of every advertisement and on the lower right corner of advertising photographs, maps and diagrams [1] Clause Advertisements must also include available ADA information and disclose whether bicycles or other transport are available (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(9), (21), (22)). No on-site exterior signs advertising the STR may be posted (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(15)). |
| What must guests be given and what must be posted? | A rental agreement with required terms, posted inside the STR with an unsigned Good Neighbor Acknowledgment and a copy of the chapter [1] Clause Required terms include maximum occupants, parking, trash pick-up days and rules, notice that the occupant may be cited, fined or evicted, the owner's or agent's contact and 9-1-1 information, and a summary of HOA CC&Rs (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(17)). A visible house number is also required (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(8)). |
| What are the trash rules? | Trash may not be stored in public view except in proper containers between 5:00 p.m. the day before and 8:00 a.m. the day after collection; non-compliant owners must sign up for walk-up trash service [1] Clause The owner must provide enough containers and service for the occupants (Sec. 5.38.080(a)(16)); see Chapter 6.10 of the Municipal Code, which we have not reviewed. |
| Must the host comply with the City's transient occupancy tax chapter? | Yes: the owner or agent must keep a City transient occupancy tax registration certificate, and collect and remit the tax as Chapter 3.25 requires; the rate isn't shown here because Chapter 3.25 hasn't been reviewed yet [1] Clause Sec. 5.38.080(d). A failure to pay the tax or file a report on time is a violation for which a permit may be penalized or revoked (Sec. 5.38.100(a)(5)). The permit application also needs a registration certificate (Sec. 5.38.050(d)). |
Penalties & enforcement
| What are the fines? | Per day and per violation: the maximum monetary amount allowed by State law for a first and second violation; a third violation revokes the permit [1] Clause Sec. 5.38.100(b). After a revocation the owner is ineligible for any category of STR permit on the same parcel. The dollar amount of the State-law maximum hasn't been researched here. |
|---|---|
| Can a permit be revoked, and how? | Yes: after investigation, written notice of intent to penalize or revoke is served on the owner and agent; it takes effect in 30 days unless a hearing before the City Manager is requested from the City Clerk [1] Clause Grounds include failing to meet permit conditions or Director-imposed conditions, willful violations, unpaid fines after 30 days and unpaid transient occupancy tax (Sec. 5.38.100(a)). The Director may impose added conditions after a violation (Sec. 5.38.080(c)). Procedure is in Sec. 5.38.110. |
State law that also applies
| Who sets lodging taxes on short stays in California? | Each city or county: state law lets them levy a transient occupancy tax on stays of 30 days or less [2] Clause California Revenue and Taxation Code section 7280 lets the legislative body of any city, county, or city and county levy a tax on the privilege of occupying a room or other living space in a hotel, inn, tourist home or house, motel or other lodging, unless the stay is longer than 30 days. A county's tax applies only in its unincorporated areas. The rate, registration and filing rules are set by each city or county, so the local tax is shown in the city's own section of this page. |
|---|---|
| Can cities make booking platforms report rentals and show local license numbers? | Yes, where the city or county opts in by ordinance (Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, in force January 1, 2026) [3] Clause 1 Clause 2 Clause 3 Clause 4 Government Code sections 50990 to 50996 (Senate Bill 346, 2025) apply only in a city or county that adopts an ordinance making them apply. Where they apply, a booking platform must, on the local agency's request, report the physical address with nine-digit ZIP code of each short-term rental it facilitated (no more often than every 3 months, or monthly if the local tax is remitted monthly), and must include in each listing any applicable local license number and any transient occupancy tax certification issued by the local agency. The local agency may fine a platform that does not report. The act does not stop a city or county from regulating short-term rentals, platforms or tax collection in other ways. |
| Short-term rentals in ADUs and junior ADUs under state law | Junior ADUs, and ADUs approved under the state's by-right path, must be rented for more than 30 days; for other ADUs a city may require 30-day-plus rentals [4] [5] [6] Clause 1 Clause 2 Clause 3 Government Code section 66333(g) requires a city's junior accessory dwelling unit ordinance to require that a rental of a junior ADU be for a term longer than 30 days (as amended by Assembly Bill 1154, in force January 1, 2026). Section 66323(e) requires a city to require that a rental of an ADU created under that section (the ministerial, by-right approvals) be for a term longer than 30 days. For other ADUs on a lot with a single-family home, section 66315 bars standards beyond section 66314, including owner occupancy, except that a city may require that the property be used for rentals of terms 30 days or longer. Cities can be stricter in their own codes; see the city section. |
| Can an HOA or condo association ban short-term rentals? | Yes: associations may prohibit rentals of 30 days or less, though they cannot ban or unreasonably restrict longer rentals [7] Clause Civil Code section 4741 says an owner in a common interest development is not subject to a governing-document provision that prohibits, has the effect of prohibiting, or unreasonably restricts renting or leasing a separate interest, ADU or junior ADU, and an association may not cap rentals below 25 percent of the separate interests. The same section says it does not prohibit an association from adopting and enforcing a provision that prohibits transient or short-term rental of a separate property interest for 30 days or less. Check your association's governing documents. |
| Are short-stay guests covered by California landlord-tenant law? | Not by the Civil Code chapter on renting homes while the stay is subject to a local occupancy tax [8] Clause Civil Code section 1940 applies the chapter on hiring of real property (Civil Code sections 1940 to 1954.071) to tenants, lessees, boarders, lodgers and others who hire dwelling units, but excludes a person in transient occupancy in a hotel, motel, residence club or other facility when the stay is or would be subject to a transient occupancy tax under Revenue and Taxation Code section 7280 (stays of 30 days or less). Stays longer than that are not covered by this exclusion. |
| Short-term rental rules in the coastal zone | Local short-term rental rules in the coastal zone go through the local coastal program or a coastal development permit; the Coastal Commission has not supported blanket bans [9] Clause In a December 6, 2016 letter to coastal cities and counties, the California Coastal Commission said that regulating short-term or vacation rentals in the coastal zone must happen within the local coastal program or under a coastal development permit, because it changes the intensity of use and access to the shoreline and so counts as development under the Coastal Act. The Commission said it does not believe outright bans adopted outside that process are legally enforceable in the coastal zone, that it has not historically supported blanket bans, and that it has supported limits such as caps on numbers by area, limits on days, occupancy limits, 24-hour response, parking, noise and signage rules and payment of transient occupancy tax. This applies only to places inside the coastal zone. |
Changes
Recent and pending changes
We read Chapter 5.38 (Short-Term Rental Permits) of the Dana Point Municipal Code and the Code's table of contents, as published on eCode360 (legislation through Ord. No. 26-05, adopted June 2, 2026) and captured on October 18, 2026. We haven't reviewed the Coastal Development Permit for the Coastal Zone, the Zoning Code, the transient occupancy tax chapter, the fee schedule or City Council and Planning Commission agendas yet, so we cannot say whether a change is pending.
Sources
Every rule above links to one of these
Newsletter
Not tracking Dana Point specifically?
One email a month with STR rule changes across the US markets we track.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.
Questions
Managing properties in several cities?
Tell us what you're trying to decide and which markets you operate in. We read every message.
This page is general information compiled from public sources, not legal or tax advice. HOA rules, deed restrictions and zoning for a specific property can be stricter. Confirm with the local permitting office and a qualified professional before buying or listing a property.