Short-term rentals in Mammoth Lakes, explained properly.

Chapter 5.32 permits transient use of residential property, as zoning allows, only after the Town issues a business tax certificate and a certified property authorization, and both must be kept in force at all times. Chapter 3.12 makes it unlawful to conduct transient rentals without first getting the certified property authorization, paying the tax and following Chapters 3.12 and 5.32. Each unit is registered with the Tax Collector before it starts. The authorization fee is set by Town Council resolution, and we did not read the fee resolution. Accepting the authorization means the operator agrees to the Town publishing the authorization number, operator names and contact details, emergency contact, parking spots and maximum occupancy.

Table 17.20.020 (residential districts) lists the transient rental use as permitted in RMF-2 and not allowed in RR, RSF and RMF-1; transient rental of apartments is permitted only with a use permit in RMF-2. Table 17.24.020 (commercial districts) lists transient rental as permitted in the D, OMR and MLR districts. Title 17 defines a transient rental as a residential structure occupied for 30 consecutive days or less for a fee, and Chapter 5.32 says the Town defines it as 30 days or less. The code says renting in a district that does not allow it is subject to fines. The industrial and special purpose district tables we read do not list the use, and we did not read specific plans, overlays or the zoning map. Confirm an address with the Town's planning staff before buying.

The registration section bars the Town from registering any accessory dwelling unit (ADU), or any housing unit under a recorded deed restriction that limits sale price or rent, and no certified property authorization is issued for them. Operating one anyway is a separate violation for each day of operation. California law on ADU rentals is described in the state section of this page.

A unit applying for a new certified property authorization must be inspected before use by a qualified inspector the Town approves. The inspection checks the operating standards, signage and safety requirements, the inspector sends the form to the Town, and the operator pays the inspector directly. A unit must be inspected every four years and before any new authorization is issued. The inspection must be completed within two months of applying, or the application is revoked and the application fees are forfeited. The Town may require re-inspection of a unit found in violation at the operator's expense.

Every operator needs a local 24-hour emergency contact: a Town-licensed business that provides that service, or an operator living within 60 miles of the Town. The contact must be available by phone at all times. A response is timely if made within one hour of the call and, within 24 hours of the first call, corrective action has begun. Failing to respond timely and appropriately on two occasions revokes the certified property authorization. Operators must also give the Town the cleaning service's name and phone number and vendor contacts on request.

The maximum number of people who may occupy the property as renters or their overnight guests is two per bedroom, plus two, for houses, townhomes, duplexes, condominiums and all other unit types. Lofts that meet California Building Code egress requirements count as bedrooms. Occupancy may not exceed ten persons unless the Town Tax Collector approves it. The code also says occupancy cannot exceed the Health and Safety Code and 1997 Uniform Housing Code limits, and events above the occupancy limit need a Town special event permit.

Each rental must post a notice inside the unit with the occupancy limit, vehicle limit, parking spaces and snow-removal parking rules, a warning that guests can be cited for unlawful large parties, bear-resistant trash rules, the managing agent's 24-hour phone, the street address and emergency contacts, an evacuation plan and the Town's visitor expectation guide. Any advertisement, including web advertising, must include the certified property authorization number. Occupancy, parking and trash rules must also be in the rental agreement shown to renters before they arrive, and the operator must hold parking to the spaces assigned to the unit. Advertising or promoting a unit is prima facie evidence that a person is acting as an operator.

A violation of Chapter 5.32, or renting where zoning does not allow it, can be fined up to $1,500 for a first violation, $3,000 for a second violation of Chapter 5.32 or 3.12 within a year, and $5,000 for each additional violation within a year. Operating without a valid business tax certificate carries a $500 administrative fine for a first violation, and the larger fines do not apply to a first-time failure to obtain a registration or tax certificate. A second or later violation carries a minimum $2,500 enforcement charge. Fraud in reporting rent, unpermitted work in the unit, or other violations connected to registration or operation each carry a $1,000 administrative fine and revocation of the business tax certificate and all certified property authorizations, with a new certificate barred for 3, 6 or 12 months depending on the violation count. The Town can waive part of a fine for a bona fide effort to comply.

When the Town learns of a failure to meet the operating standards, the operator is told and has 30 days to fix it and keep renting without penalty. After 30 days the operator is fined under the Town's fine schedule (which we did not read). If the violation is not corrected within 45 days of notice, the Town suspends the certified property authorization until the problem is resolved, and renting or advertising during a suspension brings administrative citations.

The guest owes a 15% transient occupancy tax on the rent charged by the operator, paid to the operator when the rent is paid; the operator remits it to the Town. The Town says required guest fees are taxable too, including host, pet, resort, linen, cleaning and extra-person fees and forfeited no-show deposits. Returns and payment are due on or before the 20th of the month after each month (the next working day if it falls on a weekend or holiday), and each return reports nights available, nights occupied and gross rents for every certified property. The Town's combined TOT and TBID return form suggests a TBID assessment is paid with the tax; we did not read it, so no TBID rate is shown.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.