Short-term rental rules · Fremont, California
Short-term rentals in Fremont, explained properly.
Fremont allows short-term rentals of less than 30 consecutive days only in a host's own primary residence, and only with a City short-term rental permit issued by the Community Development Department. A host may have just one short-term rental in the city, it must be in the primary dwelling unit (not an accessory dwelling unit, junior ADU, guest house or affordable unit), and new applications need a written approval letter from an HOA that has authority over the property. Operators carry at least $1,000,000 of liability insurance, keep occupancy to two people per bedroom, park on site, name a local contact person who can respond in person within 60 minutes, notify neighbours within 100 feet, and put the permit number in every advertisement. There is no annual cap on rental days. Permits cannot be transferred. Fines for health or safety infractions run up to $1,500, $3,000 and $5,000. We haven't reviewed the zoning use tables, the permit fee schedule or the transient occupancy tax chapter, so confirm those with the City.
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 short-term rental permit, in the host's primary residence only; zoning districts haven't been reviewed yet [1] ClauseConfirming |
| Is a City short-term rental permit required? | Yes: no one may establish, operate or maintain a short-term rental without a short-term rental permit from the Community Development Department; existing hosts had to apply by December 31, 2024 [1] Clause |
| Must the host live at the property as a primary residence? | Yes: the host must offer the rental in their own primary residence and show proof of primary residence with the application; a tenant host needs the owner's written consent [1] Clause |
| Can an accessory dwelling unit be used as a short-term rental? | No: short-term rentals are not permitted in accessory dwelling units, junior ADUs, accessory structures, guest houses, recreational vehicles or units built under the SB 9 provisions [1] Clause |
| Is a host limited to one short-term rental in the city? | Yes: a host may have only one short-term rental in Fremont, and only one short-term rental is permitted per dwelling unit at a time [1] Clause |
| Is there a yearly limit on rental days? | No: the code says a short-term rental is allowed for an unlimited number of days during the calendar year [1] Clause |
| Can a permit be transferred to a new owner? | No: a short-term rental permit may not be assigned or transferred to any other person or business [1] Clause |
| Are short-term rentals allowed in affordable housing units? | No: short-term rentals are not permitted in affordable units as defined in Chapter 18.155 (Affordable Housing) [1] Clause |
| Must an HOA approve the short-term rental? | Yes: all new permit applications need a written approval letter from an HOA that has authority over the property, and an HOA's CC&Rs may prohibit short-term rentals [1] ClauseConfirming |
| Is liability insurance required? | Yes: liability insurance of no less than $1,000,000, held by the host or by the hosting platform for the host [1] Clause |
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Detailed rules
The full picture, section by section
Operating rules
| What is the occupancy limit? | No more than two persons per bedroom [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(b). A bedroom is a habitable space other than a kitchen or living room, at least 70 square feet, separated by a door and reachable from a bathroom without crossing another bedroom; a studio counts as a bedroom (Sec. 5.100.020(b)). Advertisements must state the permitted occupancy from the permit. |
|---|---|
| What are the parking rules? | All parking must be on site (garage, carport or driveway) in designated or available spaces, off the public street; the requirement is lifted in established transit-oriented development (TOD) overlay districts [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(c). The application must show the location and dimensions of the off-street parking spaces (Sec. 5.100.030(b)(7)), and advertisements must state the permitted number of transient vehicles. |
| Is a local contact person required? | Yes: a local contact person available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, who must respond in person to complaints within 60 minutes [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(g) and Sec. 5.100.020(a). The contact may be the owner, the host or the host's agent. The application lists the contact's name, address and 24-hour telephone number (Sec. 5.100.030(b)(6)). |
| Must neighbours be notified? | Yes: after the permit is approved, the host must notify properties within a 100-foot radius, giving the permit number and the host's and local contact person's contact information [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(n). The host must renotify adjacent properties within one week of changes to that information. |
| What must advertisements include? | The City permit number, the permitted occupancy from the permit and the permitted number of transient vehicles; signs advertising the rental on or at the property are prohibited [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(m) and (e). |
| Are events and commercial uses allowed? | No: use other than dwelling, lodging and sleeping, including weddings, pool or sport court rentals, corporate events or parties, is prohibited [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(i). |
| Is a good neighbor policy required? | Yes: the host signs the City's good neighbor guidelines and posts them inside the front door and the backyard door, or in a conspicuous place near each door [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(j); a signed copy goes with the application (Sec. 5.100.030(b)(10)). |
| What life-safety equipment is required? | A functional smoke detector, a fire extinguisher, a carbon monoxide detector and adequate egress; the application includes a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm self-certification [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.050(l) and Sec. 5.100.030(b)(11). |
| What is the permit fee? | Set by City Council resolution for each initial and renewal application; the fee schedule hasn't been reviewed yet, so the amount and its date are not stated here [1] ClauseConfirming Sec. 5.100.030(b)(14). Confirm the current fee with the Community Development Department. |
Penalties & enforcement
| What are the fines? | For an infraction that poses a threat to health or safety: up to $1,500, up to $3,000 for a second violation, and up to $5,000 for each additional violation within one year of the first; the fines do not apply to a first-time failure to register or pay a business license fee [1] Clause Sec. 5.100.100(b), under Cal. Gov't Code 36900(d). A fine can be appealed in writing to the community development director within 10 calendar days of the citation on a showing of a bona fide effort to comply after the first violation and undue hardship (Sec. 5.100.100(c)). A short-term rental operated contrary to the chapter is also declared an unlawful public nuisance that the city attorney can abate (Sec. 5.100.100(a)). |
|---|---|
| Can a permit be suspended or revoked, and how? | Yes: the director of community development can suspend or revoke a permit on 10 days' written notice; the permittee can request a hearing within 14 days; after revocation the rental must stop and the director may bar a new application for 24 months [1] Clause Grounds (Sec. 5.100.080(a)) include violating the chapter, any ground for denial, a permanent nuisance injunction, fraud or misrepresentation, and operating while suspended. The hearing officer is designated by the city manager and must issue a written decision within 14 days of the hearing; that decision can be reviewed in court under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 1094.6 within 90 days of service (Sec. 5.100.090). |
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. |
Changes
Recent and pending changes
We read Chapter 5.100 (Short-Term Rentals, Secs. 5.100.010 to 5.100.110) of the Fremont Municipal Code and the Code's home page, as published on Code Publishing, which states the Code is current through Ordinance 02-2026, passed May 5, 2026. We didn't read the recently passed but uncodified ordinances listed at the bottom of the ordinance table, the Planning and Zoning title, the permit fee schedule, the transient occupancy tax chapter or City Council agendas, so we will watch the Code and the City's short-term rental page for changes.
Sources
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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.