Vacohost

    California

    City of Palm Springs, California short-term rental rules

    Overview

    Palm Springs runs one of the most restrictive vacation rental programs in the country, and the constraints are structural rather than procedural. Under Ordinance 2075 (adopted November 28, 2022, amended by Ordinance 2118 on November 12, 2025), vacation rentals and homesharing are limited to single-family dwellings, capped at 20% of dwelling units per Organized Neighborhood, require a Vacation Rental Registration Certificate, and are subject to annual caps on rental contracts — 26 per year for new permittees, and up to 32–36 per year for existing permittees. Applicants may not advertise or operate until written authorization is received, processing takes 30 to 90 days, and applications are not accepted while a property is in escrow. The city publishes a transient occupancy tax of 11.5% for vacation rentals (13.5% for group meeting hotels), filed monthly — including zero returns — through the GovOS/MUNIRevs portal.

    Areas covered: Properties inside the Palm Springs city limits · Last verified

    Verified requirements for City of Palm Springs, California

    Each item below was read from the official document cited with it. Nothing here is generic guidance.

    1. permit

      Vacation rentals and homeshares require a registration certificate from the City; advertising/renting before written authorization is prohibited.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Vacation Rentals program (opens in a new tab) · Welcome to Vacation Rentals · Verified

    2. capsZoning

      New permittees are capped at 26 rental contracts per year; existing permittees at 32 (plus up to 4 in Q3); neighborhood caps limit Vacation Rentals to 20% of dwelling units in an Organized Neighborhood.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Vacation Rentals program (opens in a new tab) · 5.25.070(b) · Verified

    3. occupancyParking

      Overnight occupancy and required parking spaces are set by number of bedrooms, with vehicles allowed only in garage, driveway, or street without blocking access.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Vacation Rentals program (opens in a new tab) · Reminders · Verified

    4. localContact

      Residents can report an active vacation rental disturbance via a dedicated Vacation Rental Hotline staffed by the city.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Vacation Rentals program (opens in a new tab) · Vacation Rental Hotline · Verified

    5. renewal

      Vacation Rental, Junior Vacation Rental, and Homeshare registration certificates require annual renewal with a renewal fee.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Vacation Rentals program (opens in a new tab) · UPDATE (User Fees and Charges) · Verified

    6. taxes

      Operators must collect and remit Transient Occupancy Tax of 11.5% (13.5% for group-meeting hotels) monthly, filing a return even when no rental occurred.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) (opens in a new tab) · Municipal Code Chapter 3.24 · Verified

    7. advertising

      Properties may not be advertised or rented as a short-term Vacation Rental until the city issues written authorization to operate.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Applying for a Vacation Rental Certificate (opens in a new tab) · Can I advertise or operate while my application is in process? · Verified

    8. enforcement

      Violations can result in administrative citations and permanent ineligibility to operate a Vacation Rental in the city.

      Source: City of Palm Springs — Applying for a Vacation Rental Certificate (opens in a new tab) · Can I advertise or operate while my application is in process? · Verified

    Regulation research score

    How far the short-term-rental rules we confirmed from cited official sources for City of Palm Springs, California constrain an ordinary non-owner-occupied, whole-home short-term rental, expressed on a 0–100 burden scale built from 12 weighted criteria in two dimensions: market access and operating compliance. Higher means more constrained. It is not a legal conclusion, a permissiveness rating, a market rating, a measure of desirability, legality or profitability, and not investment advice.

    High access constraints· 79/100 (range 79–100)· Medium confidence, provisional

    Major eligibility or supply barriers are documented — narrow zoning, hard caps or waitlists, discretionary conditional-use approval, severe spacing, or entity limits — so entry depends on more than completing paperwork.

    No severe market-access trigger is documented, so this jurisdiction is capped below the effectively-restricted band. A major access constraint is documented, which makes the high-access band available. Access sub-score 65, operating sub-score 84.

    Based on 67% evidence coverage. 4 criteria are unresolved, so this is an observed floor: the plausible interval reaches 100 of 100. A low observed score here means "little confirmed", not "lightly regulated".

    Market access and eligibility · 65 of 100

    • Zoning eligibility, caps, density or spacingMajor access constraint · 65

      Annual rental-contract caps (26 for new permittees) plus a 20% neighbourhood cap on vacation rentals limit both entry and use.

    Operating and compliance · 84 of 100

    • Permit, licence, or registration22 pts
    • Occupancy and parking14 pts
    • Enforcement and penalties14 pts
    • Local responsible party12 pts
    • Renewal or transfer10 pts
    • Advertising and listing rules7 pts
    • Lodging tax or fees5 pts

    Operating rules are weighted at 0.45, so compliance requirements alone cannot push a jurisdiction past Moderate / structured.

    Burden estimate
    79 of 100 · High access constraints
    Uncertainty interval
    79–100 of 100
    Evidence coverage
    67% · 8 of 12 criteria resolved
    Confidence
    Medium — provisional
    Last reviewed

    Medium confidence — provisional. Only 67% of the rubric is resolved against official sources. The observed estimate of 79 counts confirmed evidence only; unresolved criteria widen the interval upward to 100, a range that crosses more than one burden category. Treat it as indicative, not precise, and confirm directly with the jurisdiction.

    This range crosses more than one burden category (High access constraints, Very high / effectively restricted). The single estimate above is indicative only — do not read it as a precise measurement of this jurisdiction's rules.

    8 of 12 rubric criteria resolved against cited official sources.

    Why this score

    Market-access findings are graded severe, major, moderate or none from the cited official claim itself; the most severe finding scores in full and each additional finding adds a quarter of its points, so correlated restrictions are never double-counted. The operating sub-score is a weighted count out of 100 and is multiplied by 0.45, which is why routine permitting, inspection, contact, tax and enforcement rules alone cannot exceed the Moderate / structured band. An unresolved criterion is never recorded as 'not required' and never scored as zero: it enters the central estimate at a quarter of its worst case and reaches its full worst case at the top of the published interval, but it can never release the gates that open the high-access or effectively-restricted bands — those read confirmed findings only. Every result therefore ships as estimate, interval, evidence coverage and confidence together.

    • Prohibition or closed entry25.00 pts (range 0–100 of 100)

      Not confirmed either way. It is never recorded as "not required" and never scored as zero: it enters the estimate at 25% of its worst case and widens the upper bound by up to 100 access points. It can never on its own move this jurisdiction into a higher-access band — those gates read confirmed findings only.

    • Owner-occupancy or primary residence25.00 pts (range 0–100 of 100)

      Not confirmed either way. It is never recorded as "not required" and never scored as zero: it enters the estimate at 25% of its worst case and widens the upper bound by up to 100 access points. It can never on its own move this jurisdiction into a higher-access band — those gates read confirmed findings only.

    • Zoning eligibility, caps, density or spacing65.00 pts (range 65–65 of 65)

      Confirmed by a cited official source and graded major access constraint (65 access points). Annual rental-contract caps (26 for new permittees) plus a 20% neighbourhood cap on vacation rentals limit both entry and use.

    • Minimum or maximum stay8.75 pts (range 0–35 of 35)

      Not confirmed either way. It is never recorded as "not required" and never scored as zero: it enters the estimate at 25% of its worst case and widens the upper bound by up to 35 access points. It can never on its own move this jurisdiction into a higher-access band — those gates read confirmed findings only.

    • Permit, licence, or registration22.00 pts (range 22–22 of 22)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 22 of 100 operating points.

    • Inspection or life-safety certification4.00 pts (range 0–16 of 16)

      Not confirmed either way. It is never recorded as "not required" and never scored as zero: it enters the estimate at 25% of its worst case and widens the upper bound by up to 16 operating points. It can never on its own move this jurisdiction into a higher-access band — those gates read confirmed findings only.

    • Occupancy and parking14.00 pts (range 14–14 of 14)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 14 of 100 operating points.

    • Enforcement and penalties14.00 pts (range 14–14 of 14)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 14 of 100 operating points.

    • Local responsible party12.00 pts (range 12–12 of 12)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 12 of 100 operating points.

    • Renewal or transfer10.00 pts (range 10–10 of 10)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 10 of 100 operating points.

    • Advertising and listing rules7.00 pts (range 7–7 of 7)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 7 of 100 operating points.

    • Lodging tax or fees5.00 pts (range 5–5 of 5)

      Confirmed by a cited official source, so it scores its full 5 of 100 operating points.

    What we could not confirm — and what to ask

    We found no official source resolving these 4 criteria either way. They are not treated as “not required” and are not scored as zero. Confirm each one with the department listed below before you rely on it.

    • Prohibition or closed entry — unknown; could add 0–100 points.
    • Owner-occupancy or primary residence — unknown; could add 0–100 points.
    • Minimum or maximum stay — unknown; could add 0–35 points.
    • Inspection or life-safety certification — unknown; could add 0–16 points.

    The rubric

    How the category is set on the 0–100 scale: 80+ reads very high / effectively restricted and requires a documented severe market-access trigger; 60–79 reads high access constraints and requires a documented major access constraint (or two moderate ones); 40–59 reads moderate / structured, which is the ceiling for jurisdictions whose confirmed rules are operating requirements only; 20–39 reads lower regulatory burden; below 20 reads minimal STR-specific burden located. A documented official-source search that resolves criteria and finds no short-term-rental-specific requirement reads “no local STR-specific regulation located in reviewed official sources” — which is not a statement that operating here is unrestricted, legal, or low-risk. Unconfirmed criteria never count as permissive. How to confirm the rest yourself.

    Who to ask in City of Palm Springs, California

    Department-level contact details as published on the jurisdiction’s own website. We do not publish individual staff contact information.

    • Department of Special Program Compliance

      Register, renew, transfer, or close a Vacation Rental Registration Certificate and ask about vacation rental rules

      760-322-8382

      Published at this official page · checked

    General research checklist (not City of Palm Springs, California specific)

    These are the categories short-term rental owners check anywhere in the US. They are general prompts, not this jurisdiction’s ordinance.

    Occupancy limits
    Most jurisdictions tie maximum overnight occupancy to bedroom count, septic capacity, or a fixed cap. Confirm the current figure for your specific parcel with the City of Palm Springs before advertising a sleeping capacity.
    Parking
    On-site parking counts and prohibitions on street or shoulder parking are among the most commonly enforced short-term rental provisions. Verify the required count with the City of Palm Springs and state it plainly in your listing.
    Life-safety requirements
    Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers, egress, and posted evacuation information are typical requirements. Some jurisdictions inspect; others self-certify. Verify which applies.
    Local responsible party
    Many ordinances require a named local contact who can respond to the property within a set time. Confirm whether a contact is required, what response window applies, and how it must be filed with the City of Palm Springs.
    Renewal and enforcement
    Registrations and permits generally renew on a fixed cycle, and enforcement is usually complaint-driven with escalating penalties. Confirm the renewal date, fee, and enforcement process with the City of Palm Springs.
    Lodging and sales tax
    State and local lodging or occupancy taxes may be collected by the booking platform, by you, or split. Confirm current collection responsibility with both the taxing authority and your platform — platform collection agreements change.

    Confirm these directly — we could not verify them

    We publish gaps rather than guesses. The following were not confirmable from a current official source at our last review.

    • Whether the 20% neighborhood cap is currently full for your specific address (check the city's vacation rental density map)
    • Current application fees and inspection requirements
    • Operational standards for insurance, parking, and occupancy
    • Whether the annual contract cap makes your revenue model viable before you buy

    Official sources

    Government sources only. If a link has moved, go to the jurisdiction’s main site and search for short-term or vacation rentals.

    Change log

    • — Entry published. Official source links checked; no jurisdiction-specific ordinance text confirmed.

    Operating a rental here?

    Compliance is the owner’s responsibility in every model, including ours. What a co-host can do is keep the listing, messaging, and pricing consistent with the rules you confirm.

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    Nearby jurisdictions

    Found a change in City of Palm Springs, California?

    Send the official link and we'll re-verify this entry. We'd rather correct it than leave a stale requirement up.

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