Short-term rentals in Santa Cruz County, explained properly.

Where required on-site parking cannot be provided, an on-site parking exception may be requested with a Conditional Use Permit and decided by the Zoning Administrator at a hearing. Rentals inside a parking district buy a parking permit at the business rate. Listings must give the number and location of on-site spots and the approximate location of off-site spots.

Advertising a rental that has no permit or does not comply with the section is a violation. Hosting platforms must list only permitted properties. Applicants must also give the County the names of the platforms and a copy of each listing.

The hotline sign must be readable from each right-of-way giving primary vehicle access. A non-hosted rental sign sits no more than 20 feet back from the nearest street and shows the five-year permit dates. House rules cover guest and vehicle numbers, noise, pets, events, fireworks, trash and evacuation. The noise standards of SCCC Chapter 8.30 apply and a copy is posted. By accepting a permit, owners agree to good-faith dispute resolution, through the Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County unless the parties agree otherwise.

The agreement must be acceptable to the County, is binding on successors for as long as the permit is valid, and can be submitted with the application or before approval (Sec. 13.10.694(D)(9)(h)(i)).

The protection extends to renewal applications for permits existing when changes take effect, with an exception for the rules in subsection (D)(4). It ends if ownership changes.

This is Sec. 13.10.695(A)-(B); its history note cites Ord. 5497, 8/19/2025. The rules are to be read in line with state and federal law and do not apply if the County determines they are preempted.

The notice identifies each listing by URL and states the reason. A platform operating only on the internet that follows subsections (A) to (D) is presumed to comply, except that it remains subject to the administrative subpoena provisions.

The County may also serve administrative subpoenas on platforms for the names of the persons responsible for each listing, listing addresses, length of stay and price paid. A subpoena gives at least 30 days to respond, during which the recipient may seek judicial review (Sec. 13.10.696).

Significant violations include noise citations under Chapter 8.30, breaking permit conditions, mis-advertising capacity, law-enforcement warnings, health violations, unpaid Transient Occupancy Tax or fines, failing to respond within 60 minutes and missing signs. Violations can also be grounds to deny a renewal. Permits are subject to revocation under SCCC 18.10.136.

A violation of the permit requirements can be grounds to deny a new permit application. It is also unlawful to make a false report to the Sheriff's Office about short-term rental activity. We haven't reviewed Chapter 19.01, so fine amounts for owners are not shown here.

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.