Short-term rentals in Santa Cruz, explained properly.

Sec. 24.12.1720 conditions: the permit goes to one owner for the owner's principal residence; the owner must show full conformance with the Municipal Code, including Chapter 3.28; annual rental activity must be shown through tax reporting; the permit lapses if the unit is not used as a short-term rental for two full years; ads must carry the permit number and the transient occupancy registration certificate number; the property must be registered in the residential rental inspection program and complete any corrections within a reasonable time set by the Director; the property cannot have outstanding building, electrical, plumbing, fire, health, housing, police or planning code violations or enforcement actions (the City must suspend or revoke if a violation occurs and is not cured); and a prior revocation disqualifies the applicant from any new short-term rental permit for two years.

Sec. 24.12.1730 says the Department of Planning and Community Development assesses fees for a short-term rental permit, as set by the City Council, and that the council may adjust them each year to reflect the cost of administering the permit and enforcing the Part. The fee amount and the date of the fee schedule haven't been reviewed yet, so this page doesn't state a fee.

Sec. 24.12.1765 applies to new hosted rentals: on-site parking must comply with the minimum residential standards, and where a parking reduction was granted for a shared-use or mixed-use property the zoning administrator decides whether noncompliance is significant enough to deny a permit; only one short-term rental is allowed per assessor's parcel number; additions or expansions follow the zoning district's development standards and increases in parking requirements need planning department permit review; and units with five or more bedrooms are subject to a zoning administrator public hearing under Chapter 24.04. Existing rentals that expand are also subject to the zoning district standards (Sec. 24.12.1760).

Sec. 24.12.1795: an operator aggrieved by a Director decision may appeal under Sec. 24.04.180, and the permit is deemed suspended while the appeal is pending. The appeal is a written statement plus the appeal fee paid to the city clerk within ten calendar days of the notice of the Director's decision, heard by the Planning Commission, whose decision can be appealed to the City Council within ten calendar days. The council's decision is final, subject to judicial review.

Sec. 24.12.1770(1) and (2). The maximum number of vehicles is also limited by bedroom count (see Vehicles).

Sec. 24.12.1770(3) caps the number of vehicles allowed at the short-term rental. It applies to all existing and new short-term rentals.

Sec. 24.12.1770(4). Chapter 9.36 (the City's noise chapter) hasn't been reviewed yet.

Sec. 24.12.1770(5) describes short-term rentals as overnight accommodations in residential neighborhoods, not meant to host weddings, parties or other large engagements.

Sec. 24.12.1770(6). The contact must be able to physically respond within thirty minutes of notification of a complaint about the condition, operation or conduct of occupants and take the remedial action needed to resolve it. A sign at the property must also list a 24-hour local contact (see Signs and posted rules).

Sec. 24.12.1770(7) and (9). The sign identifies the structure as a permitted short-term rental and lists a 24-hour local contact; it may be any shape but not exceed 216 square inches (12 by 18 inches) and must be placed no more than twenty feet back from the nearest street. Rules posted inside must cover the maximum number of guests, the ban on special events and parties, vehicles and parking, noise rules including an explicit statement that fireworks are not legal in the City, and trash management.

Sec. 24.12.1770(8). Containers may be out only between 5:00 p.m. the day before and 8:00 p.m. the day of collection; the owner must provide enough containers and service, and keep the property and the adjacent street free of debris.

Sec. 24.12.1725. A hosting platform may collect a fee for booking only when it exercises reasonable care to confirm the unit is lawfully permitted, and is deemed to do so if it follows the Department's administrative guidelines. For at least four years after the calendar year of each transaction it must be able to give the City the owner's name, the unit address, the dates booked and the permit number. A platform that violates these duties is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000, with each booking a separate offense (Sec. 24.12.1790(2)).

Sec. 24.12.1790. Each day of a violation can be charged as a separate offense. The council's bail amounts for the infraction fines haven't been reviewed yet. A court may assess a civil penalty up to $2,500 per violation for each day (Sec. 4.04.020), the City or an aggrieved party can seek an injunction, and a successful private attorney general plaintiff may recover reasonable attorneys' fees. Repeated violations are declared a public nuisance. Hosting platforms face a $1,000 misdemeanor fine for each violating booking.

Sec. 24.12.1785. Grounds include a property transfer that triggers reassessment, false statements, conduct that led to a citation or conviction, violated law, was a nuisance or breached a permit condition, failure to pass Chapter 21.06 inspections, and three or more verified and valid complaints of any violation of the Municipal Code or state or federal law within a twelve-month period. The Department gives written notice of the intended action and the permittee has fourteen calendar days to respond; the Director then decides, and the permit stays valid until written notice of the decision issues.

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.