Short-term rentals in Newport Beach, explained properly.

This is Sec. 5.95.015. Units that already held a permit that was never revoked keep eligibility; the other conditions of the chapter, including the permit caps, still apply. Zoning (Titles 20 and 21) hasn't been reviewed yet, so confirm a parcel's zone with the City.

The definition of accessory dwelling unit follows Chapter 20.70, which we haven't reviewed. California law on short-term rental of accessory dwelling units is in the state section of this page.

The application lists owner and agent contacts, evidence of a valid City business license, bedrooms, gross floor area, on-site parking spaces with location and size, a nuisance response plan, a CC&R certification, acknowledgment of the regulations and anything else the Director reasonably needs (Sec. 5.95.030). An incomplete application must be completed within 30 calendar days of notice. A permit closed for inactivity must be reinstated within 30 calendar days of closure, and a suspended permit within 30 calendar days of the end of suspension. The Director may extend these deadlines for good cause. An application can be denied if the owner lacks a current business license, owes transient occupancy tax, visitor service fee, penalties, fines or inspection costs, the nuisance response plan is inadequate, or a permit for the same unit and owner was revoked (Sec. 5.95.035; this section lists Ordinance 2026-14, September 8, 2026, in its history note).

Sec. 5.95.040 requires each application (new, renewal, reinstatement or transfer) to be accompanied by a fee set by City Council resolution, no greater than necessary to cover the City's cost of administering the chapter and providing the answering service. The fee schedule hasn't been reviewed yet, so no amount is shown here. Waiting-list applications also carry a fee set by resolution.

Sec. 5.95.043: the transfer application must be filed under Sec. 5.95.030 within the stated time, the permit must be valid and not abandoned, and a missed deadline waives the transfer and the permit is abandoned unless the Director finds good cause. Owners who timely apply to transfer have priority over the waiting list.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(1) makes this a standard permit condition; Sec. 5.95.047(B) makes it unlawful for any lessee to rent a lodging unit to a transient user for a short term.

Standard permit condition, Sec. 5.95.045(A)(21). The permit chapter regulates rentals of 30 consecutive days or less.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(2). When the City gives verbal notice of a violation, a transient user who is 25 or older and named on the rental agreement must appear at the unit, along with the owner or agent, within two hours (Sec. 5.95.045(A)(24)).

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(3)-(4). The owner must ensure the guest complies with the agreement. Guests may not exceed the designated overnight occupancy limit (Sec. 5.95.047(A)(1)).

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(9), (12): the contact's name and 24-hour phone number go to the City and are posted in the unit. Separately, after a City official's good-faith determination of a violation and verbal notice, the owner or agent must appear in person at the unit within two hours (Sec. 5.95.045(A)(24)).

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(17) and Sec. 5.95.047(A)(4). Chapters 10.28, 10.58 and 10.66 also apply and haven't been reviewed.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(13), (22)-(23) and Sec. 5.95.047(A)(2). The owner must get license plate numbers for guests' vehicles and give them to the City within seven calendar days of a request. A parking citation within 100 feet of the property line during the rental creates a presumption the guest was staying at or visiting the unit.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(16); it is also unlawful for a guest (Sec. 5.95.047(A)(5)).

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(15). The tax rates are in Chapters 3.16 and 3.28, which haven't been reviewed.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(11). If the Administrative Services Director directs a hosting platform or agent in writing to collect and remit, the owner must still ensure it happens and file the platform's receipts with the return (Sec. 5.95.050(A)). Failing to collect and remit twice in 36 months can lead to revocation. No combined total is shown.

Sec. 5.95.045(A)(19), (20), (22). If an inspection shows the application information was false, the owner is liable for the inspection cost and the permit can be revoked (Sec. 5.95.065(A)(8)).

Sec. 5.95.050: hosting platforms and agents disclose each listing, responsible persons, address, length of stay and price on a regular basis (subject to applicable law); they may not charge fees for services ancillary to an unpermitted unit; they collect and remit tax only if directed in writing by the Director. The City Manager may issue administrative subpoenas for listing information (Sec. 5.95.055).

Sec. 5.95.065: two or more permit-condition or code violations in 12 months allow a six-month suspension; in a safety enhancement zone, a violation allows a one-year suspension or revocation; two or more loud or unruly gatherings in 24 months allow a one-year suspension or revocation; three or more violations in 12 months, a violation within six months of reinstatement, false application information, or failing to remit transient occupancy tax or the visitor service fee two or more times in 36 months allow revocation. If the evidence shows a listed violation during a high-risk period, the permit shall be revoked. The Director gives written notice; the owner has a right to a hearing request with a fee set by resolution; the City Manager decides within 30 days and the decision is subject to judicial review. Fine amounts under the Code haven't been reviewed.

Sec. 5.95.080: closure also follows an owner's written notice of the last rental; a final tax and fee bill is due 30 days from the invoice. A second inactivity closure is not eligible for reinstatement. This section lists Ordinance 2026-14 (September 8, 2026) in its history note; confirm the current text with the City.

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.

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.