Short-term rentals in San José, explained properly.

Table 20-165 limits incidental transient occupancy with the host present to 3 transient users in a one-family dwelling or mobile home and 2 transient users in each unit of a two-family or multiple-family dwelling. When the host is not present, occupancy is limited to 2 people in a studio, 3 people in a one-bedroom unit and 2 people for each bedroom beyond one, up to 10 people in total.

For stays where the host is not present, the host must give written notice of the local contact person's name and phone number to all guests and to the occupants of all adjacent properties (homes to the sides, rear, front including across the street, above and below). The local contact must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during each stay to respond within 60 minutes to complaints and take action to resolve them.

For stays with the host present, the home must have the parking spaces required for its dwelling type under section 20.90.060. Any building used for incidental transient occupancy must meet the housing code (Chapter 17.20). The host must keep records showing compliance with the performance criteria, including proof of tax payment by a platform, for 3 years after each stay and provide copies to the City Manager, City Attorney or City Auditor on request.

The Finance Department says that effective October 1, 2026 the total transient occupancy tax paid by guests rose from 10% to 12%, after voters passed Measure A on June 2, 2026 (results certified by the City Council on August 11, 2026); the general fund portion under Chapter 4.74 goes from 4% to 6%, and the 6% under Chapter 4.72 is unchanged. The operator collects the tax when rent is collected, must state it separately from the rent, and may not advertise that it will absorb the tax. The City lists cleaning, pet, extra-person, early check-in, late check-out and cancellation fees among the charges subject to the tax. The Finance Department says the October 2026 return and payment are due November 30, 2026. The City's Convention Center Facilities District tax and Hotel Business Improvement District fee are listed on the same page for hotel properties; no official source read says whether they apply to short-term rentals, so neither is shown, and no combined rate is given.

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.