Short-term rentals in Tustin, explained properly.

Section 9281(B)(2) bars any responsible party from posting, publishing, circulating, broadcasting or maintaining an advertisement of a short-term rental prohibited in any residential zoning district for a period of less than thirty (30) consecutive days, including any advertisement for a daily or weekly rate. The clause is tied to rentals that are prohibited in residential zoning districts, so its reach in other districts is not shown here; the zoning use tables and the definitions haven't been reviewed yet.

Section 9281(F)(1) says hosting platforms shall not complete any booking transaction for short-term rentals in the City. Under (F)(2), no later than thirty (30) days after any person seeks to use a hosting platform to complete a short-term rental in the City, the platform must give the Community Development Director or designee, in writing, the names of and contact information for the person responsible for each listing, the address, the length of stay and the price quoted. Under (F)(3) a platform may not collect or receive compensation, directly or indirectly, for facilitating or providing a short-term rental in the City, including ancillary services such as insurance, cleaning or property management. A platform that complies is presumed in compliance with the City's short-term rental regulations but must still answer an administrative subpoena ((F)(4)). Under (F)(5), the section is to be read in line with state and federal law and does not apply if the City determines it violates or is preempted by such law.

Section 9281(C) declares any use or condition in violation of the section a public nuisance that may be summarily abated under Section 1122 and Code of Civil Procedure Section 731 or any other remedy provided by law. Section 9281(D) makes it unlawful for a responsible party to violate the section, and says a violation may be prosecuted in the name of the people of the State, redressed by civil action, or resolved by administrative remedies; a violating responsible party is guilty of an infraction or a misdemeanor if the circumstances so warrant. Section 9281(E) says Tustin City Code Article 1, Chapter 1, Part 6, Section 1162 applies. We haven't reviewed Section 1162 yet, so the fine amounts 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.