Short-term rentals in Santa Fe, explained properly.

A new permit or registration application carries a one-time, non-refundable application, processing and inspection fee of $100. Each short-term rental unit then pays a $290 annual permit fee (residentially zoned property) or a $290 annual registration fee (nonresidential zoning), plus an annual business license fee of $35. The Code says these fees fund administration and enforcement of the short-term rental rules.

The application must include the local operator's name and phone number, a statement by owner and operator that the rental will follow the short-term rental rules, other laws, City codes and private covenants (and that no covenant prohibits it), and anything else the Planning and Land Use Director requires. Before issuing a first permit or registration the City inspects the unit, which must have a fire evacuation plan, carbon monoxide detection, smoke alarms in all bedrooms, a fire extinguisher on each floor, no combustible storage in mechanical, boiler or electrical rooms, a non-combustible ash receptacle outside for any fireplace or wood stove, and street numbers at least four inches tall visible from the street. The unit must have a certificate of occupancy and meet building, fire and safety codes and the City's water-conservation fixture rules, and the owner must get a business license at or before applying. The City's page lists the documents it asks for (including proof of ownership, a gross receipts tax certificate, site and floor plans, proof of insurance and a draft neighbor notice) and says applications are made and renewed online and the property must be ready for inspection within two weeks.

The Code lets an owner renew a permit or registration each year unless it has been revoked, and requires renewal of the permit or registration and the associated business license by March 15; an owner who misses March 15 may pay a $50 late fee to extend the filing time to April 15. A permit not renewed by its expiration date, including the extension, reverts to the City and goes to the next eligible applicant on the waiting list; an owner whose permit has lapsed must apply again, subject to availability. Renewal applications must include the records the Code requires for the previous year. The City's short-term rental page says all permits expire after December 31 each year regardless of issue date, renewal season runs from January 1 to April 15, the renewal deadline is April 15 at 5 PM, and new applications open after that. Check the current year's dates with the Short-Term Rental Office.

A permit cannot be transferred to another person or property. When ownership of the unit transfers, the permit ends and reverts to the City; a new owner who wants to rent short term must submit a new application. A transfer that does not create new ownership, such as moving the property into the owner's revocable trust or into an LLC with no change in ownership interests, is not treated as a transfer. When a permit holder dies, the permit may pass to the holder's spouse or domestic partner if he or she asks the Planning and Land Use Director in writing within 90 days, owns or will own the property after the estate is settled, and does not already hold a permit.

Within ten days after a residential permit is issued or renewed, the owner or operator must mail notices by first-class mail, on the City's form, to the homeowners' association (if any), to the owners of residentially zoned property within 200 feet (excluding rights-of-way) as shown in the county assessor's records, to those properties' physical addresses where different, and to the Planning and Land Use Department. The notice gives the local operator's name and phone number; a new notice is required within ten days of any change. Within ten days of mailing, the owner or operator must give the City the mailing lists and a signed affidavit of mailing. The City's page provides a notification map, letter template and affidavit.

A City-issued permit or registration number must appear in all advertising of a short-term rental, including platform listings. Host platforms must require that number in every listing, deactivate a listing within five business days after the City says its number is invalid, and send the City a monthly report of each listed property's web address with its permit or registration number.

Short-term rental permits and registrations held when Ordinance No. 2020-35 was adopted remain valid to the extent they have been consistently renewed, and are not subject to the proximity limits or the one-permit-per-person limit; they may keep being renewed if they meet the other rules and fees. Units that were permitted or registered at that time and are in a development with resort facilities, or are owned in time-divided interests, may continue as short-term rentals but receive a registration rather than a permit, whatever their zoning.

A permitted short-term rental may not be rented more than once within a seven-day period; the limit does not apply to rentals that begin between November 15 and January 15. In a written interpretation effective June 8, 2026, the Planning and Land Use Director (after consulting the City Attorney) defined the seven-day period as one reservation per week on average over the calendar year, so a compliant permitted rental has 44 or fewer unique reservations a year (52 weeks minus the 8 exempt weeks). The interpretation says the rule applies to permitted short-term rentals in residentially zoned districts and not to registered rentals with nonresidential zoning.

The total number of guests who may occupy a short-term rental unit is twice the number of bedrooms.

Short-term rentals on residentially zoned property must be used only for residential purposes and not for commercial activities or events, meaning activities intended to make money, offering goods or services for sale, or any other activity that is not residential in nature. Gatherings of more than two times the number of guests legally allowed in the unit count as not residential in nature unless the City has permitted the activity or event.

Every short-term rental must have a local operator available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to complaints about its operation or occupancy, reachable by telephone and able to be physically present at the unit within one hour of being contacted. The operator's name and phone number go on the application and on the neighbor notice.

The owner must provide on-site off-street parking: one space for a one-bedroom unit and two spaces for two or more bedrooms. Guests may not park recreational vehicles on site or on the street. Noise or other disturbance from a short-term rental is prohibited after 10:00 p.m., including from decks, portals, porches, balconies or patios. The owner or operator must tell guests in writing about relevant City ordinances, including the nuisance and water conservation ordinances.

Owners or operators must keep records for at least the most recent three years and make them available to the City on request: for rentals on residentially zoned property, the start date and number of nights of each reservation; and for all short-term rentals, rent paid by guests by month and each type of tax and fee paid to the City by month. Renewal applications must include the previous year's records.

Private restrictive covenants, enforceable by those they govern, may prohibit short-term rentals, and the application includes a statement that no private covenant prohibits the rental. A real estate broker listing property in Santa Fe must give prospective buyers a current copy of the short-term rental ordinance.

Operating, renting, offering or advertising without a permit or registration, failing to pay or report taxes or otherwise breaking the short-term rental rules exposes the owner or operator to the Code's enforcement provisions, which may include civil or criminal penalties and revocation. The Planning and Land Use Director may assess civil fines, including for renting a short-term rental without a permit or registration and for failing to pay or report fees or taxes owed: $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for third and later offenses within any 36 months, with each day after notice a separate violation where the violation can be fixed within a day. The Director may also withhold or revoke short-term rental permits and order a one-year waiting period before someone who operated in violation of the ordinance, or failed to pay or report taxes, may apply for a permit. Violations of Chapter 14 may also be punished under the City's general penalty (section 1-3, not read).

Santa Fe's Lodgers' Tax Ordinance (City Code section 18-11) imposes an occupancy tax of 5% and a convention center fee of 2%, a total of 7% of gross taxable rent, for lodging at taxable premises in the city. Gross taxable rent excludes state gross receipts tax and local sales taxes; taxable premises are lodging that is not the guest's household or primary residence. Neither part applies to a guest who has been a permanent resident for at least 30 consecutive days or has a written agreement for at least 30 consecutive days. The operator collects the tax for the City as a trustee and must charge it separately from the rent. The short-term rental rules also require owners to pay all applicable taxes, including lodgers' tax, gross receipts tax and income tax.

No one may provide lodging in Santa Fe without first obtaining the business registration required by the Lodgers' Tax Ordinance. Each vendor must report the previous month's lodging receipts and pay the lodgers' tax by the 25th of each month (the Code allows quarterly filing with written City approval for small vendors). Gross receipts tax is separate and set by the state (see state law below); no combined total is given here.

The Lodgers' Tax Act (NMSA 1978 sections 3-38-13 to 3-38-25) lets a municipality impose an occupancy tax on lodging within its limits, and a county on lodging outside city limits, by ordinance. The tax may not exceed 5% of the gross taxable rent, which is the rent paid for lodging not counting state gross receipts tax or local sales taxes. Taxable premises are a hotel, motel or other premises used for lodging that is not the guest's household or primary residence. The tax does not apply to a guest who has been a permanent resident of the premises for at least 30 consecutive days or who has a written agreement for at least 30 consecutive days (unless the premises are temporary lodging near the guest's job), or when the rent is less than $2 a day. The person furnishing the lodging collects the tax on behalf of the city or county as a trustee and must charge it separately from the rent. The rate and filing rules that apply in a given place are set by that city's or county's own ordinance.

The Taxation and Revenue Department says gross receipts tax is imposed on businesses and is commonly passed on to the customer, in which case it must be stated separately on the invoice. Gross receipts include money received from leasing or licensing property employed in New Mexico. The rate varies by location because it combines state, county and municipal rates; since July 1, 2025 rates change only in July except in special situations. Marketplace providers without a physical presence in New Mexico are also subject to the tax once they have at least $100,000 of taxable gross receipts in the previous calendar year. State law lets receipts from leasing real property be deducted from gross receipts, but says that receipts hotels, motels, rooming houses, guest ranches or similar facilities receive from lodgers, guests, roomers or occupants are not receipts from leasing real property for that deduction.

The Taxation and Revenue Department says anyone who engages in business in New Mexico must register with it, and that engaging in business means carrying on any activity with the purpose of direct or indirect benefit. After registering, the business receives a New Mexico Business Tax Identification Number, used to report and pay taxes such as gross receipts tax. A marketplace provider without a physical presence in the state is engaging in business once it has at least $100,000 of taxable gross receipts sourced to New Mexico in the previous calendar year.