Short-term rentals in Santa Rosa, explained properly.

Section 20-48.040(D) and (E). A renewal application with the renewal fee and supporting materials goes to the Planning and Economic Development Department no earlier than 60 calendar days before expiration and is accepted up to 30 calendar days after expiration; expiration is stayed until the Director acts on it, and the renewal keeps the same month and day of issuance. If no renewal application is received in that window, all short-term rental activity must cease and a New permit is required, with all new-permit requirements including separation between non-hosted rentals. The renewal fee amount hasn't been reviewed yet.

Section 20-48.040(F). The notice includes the permit issuance, the Local Contact's information and certain short-term rental regulations. The applicant pays all renotification costs, including staff time, printing and postage, as set in the City Fee Schedule, which hasn't been reviewed yet.

Sections 20-48.030 and 20-48.040(H). After losing the status, a later application is treated as a new permit, including the 1,000-foot separation rule for non-hosted rentals.

Section 20-48.040(I) and (J). Other denial grounds include an address whose permit expired without a timely renewal or is under revocation proceedings, and loss of Operator in Good Standing status where the new-permit requirements are not met. Appeals are filed in writing on a City application with the appropriate fee; the appeal fee hasn't been reviewed yet.

Section 20-48.060(A) and (C). Bedrooms are counted from the County Assessor's record. Maximum occupancy cannot exceed what the required parking supports, except in the CMU, SMU, MMU and NMU districts, where occupancy is set by the number of bedrooms proposed for rental use alone. The owner must not allow a gathering that exceeds the maximum number of renters and daytime guests.

Section 20-48.060(B). Daytime guests are in addition to the renter limit, for a total of up to 15 people between those hours when 10 renters are allowed. People present from 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. count as short-term renters.

Section 20-48.060(C). Standard spaces must be at least 9 by 19 feet; parallel spaces at least 8 by 22 feet (8 by 20 feet where one end is encumbered). Parking cannot be in a required front or street side setback except on a driveway, cannot encroach into the roadway or block fire apparatus access roads, and a garage or driveway counted toward the minimum must be available to renters for that purpose. The requirement does not set occupancy in the CMU, SMU, MMU and NMU districts.

Section 20-48.070(A)(2) applies the City noise chapter (Chapter 17-16) with these two changes. Both are listed among the major violations in the penalty table.

Section 20-48.070(A)(7). An event over the occupancy limit or without the minimum parking is also barred by Sec. 20-48.060(A).

Section 20-48.070(A)(8). Listings must also say whether one legal on-street space is available to renters. A first-time violation of the advertising requirement draws a citation without a fine.

Section 20-48.070(A)(5).

Sections 20-48.030 and 20-48.080(A). The Local Contact must be a natural person who answers directly. A failure to respond, when verified by Code Enforcement, is a violation of the permit.

Section 20-48.070(B). The evacuation materials are a City evacuation checklist, a Know Your Alerts flyer, a Know Your Ways Out map and the evacuation zone. Each rental must also have a printed sign showing the locations of fire extinguishers, gas shut-off valves, exits and pull fire alarms. Outdoor burning at non-hosted rentals is limited to firepits, fireplaces, barbeques and heaters fueled by a single five-gallon LPG cylinder or natural gas, not within 10 feet of combustible vegetation or overhanging limbs; hosted rentals follow Chapter 18-44 and the California Fire Code. The rental must be available for inspection by code enforcement, building, police or fire personnel on request at any time.

Section 20-48.070(A)(3), (4) and (6). Exterior lighting must also meet Section 20-30.080, Outdoor lighting.

Section 20-48.080(B), Table 48.1. Major categories are operating without a valid permit, exceeding renter or guest occupancy limits, parking, quiet hours, outdoor amplified sound, prohibited events and life-safety violations. Minor categories are a Local Contact failing to respond, unpaid TOT or BIA, violations of other codes, nuisance lighting, trash, posting, advertising and listing, and refusing inspection access. Fines cannot exceed the maximums under Government Code section 36900 and following. Any citation counts as a verified violation, and the chapter lets the City use other remedies, including criminal or civil actions.

Section 20-48.080(C), with revocation proceedings under Section 20-54.100. A revoked non-hosted permit also reduces the citywide non-hosted count.

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.