STRWATCH.AI / CA / Santa Monica

Is a short-term rental legal in Santa Monica, CA?

HEAVILY REGULATED

Santa Monica permits home-sharing in a host’s primary residence, with the host living on site throughout the stay.

See permits and requirements

Sources checked7 open items listed below

Chapter 6.20 applies within Santa Monica, not neighboring Los Angeles. A host must be a natural person who owns the home or qualifies as a long-term resident and uses it as a primary residence. A non-owner must document the preceding 12 months of residency and the right or intent to remain for the following 12 months. One person may host only one home-share. Occupancy, including the host, other eligible residents and visitors, cannot exceed the lesser of 10 persons, one person per 200 square feet, or two persons per bedroom excluding minor children. A universal visitor-only cap is not established, so max_guests is null. No more than two visitor groups may be booked for a date, with no more than two listings per platform or media outlet and two booked listings across outlets. Rentals longer than 30 consecutive days fall outside Chapter 6.20’s rental definitions, not all housing laws. The currently linked 2019 rules allow a host in either the main house or an ADU permitted before March 31, 2017. Later-permitted ADUs ordinarily require the host to live in the ADU itself; Section 6.20.110 adds a narrow exception for previously permitted home-shares subsequently denied renewal because of changed rules or an erroneously issued permit, with no outstanding unpermitted-work violation. Parcel eligibility and other applicable ADU restrictions remain unresolved.

Permits and requirements

Home-Sharing Permit and Business License (combined application) Cost not verified
City of Santa Monica, Business License Division / Code Enforcement
Renewal: Annual; permit and business license run through June 30 and the City application page calls for renewal July 1. Each listed host must certify prior-year compliance; previously listed non-owner hosts must document continued residency for the next 12 months, and new hosts must supply eligibility documentation.
Apply online with two accepted primary-residence documents, ownership or long-term-residency proof, insurance evidence where required, unit area and bedroom count, permitted occupancy, and information for each host. The linked rules require entity-held homes to use the natural-person host’s long-term-resident documentation rather than treating the entity as the host. The application page’s broader wording about 12 months of prior residency for owners conflicts with the owner/non-owner distinction in the code and rules; confirm owner documentation with the City. Material application changes require an amended application within 30 days. Permits cannot be transferred or assigned. Application review and payment precede issuance; current initial and renewal totals are unresolved.
official source
Liability Insurance Cost not verified
City of Santa Monica (SMMC 6.20.020(a)(9))
Renewal: Must be maintained continuously while the permit is active
Maintain at least $500,000 liability coverage for home-sharing, or conduct every home-sharing transaction through a platform providing equal or greater coverage. The City’s application page names Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO as qualifying and waives separate proof when using only those platforms; this is the City’s stated application policy, not an independent review of an individual booking’s insurance contract.
official source
Basic Health & Safety Equipment Cost not verified
City of Santa Monica (SMMC 6.20.020(a)(5))
Renewal: Ongoing condition of the permit
Provide working fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. For a home-share in a multifamily building of more than one story, give visitors emergency-exit-route information. The linked rules permit a preapproval inspection when application information conflicts with City or public records; a mandatory recurring inspection interval is not established. A storage shed or garage that is not habitable residential space cannot be rented as a home-share or used as the host’s substitute residence.
official source
City Home-Share Registry Listing Cost not verified
City of Santa Monica
Renewal: Automatic upon permit issuance/renewal; hosts must submit each listing's URL to the Code Enforcement Division within 10 days of permit approval or of any listing change
The City maintains a registry of authorized hosts and properties, and platforms may not complete an unregistered residential booking. Advertisements must state the business license number, the host’s on-site presence throughout the stay, permitted occupancy and vehicle count, and the two-group limit. Exterior advertising on the dwelling, other buildings on the lot or the lot itself is prohibited. Visitors are limited to one vehicle per rented bedroom; the rules apply the lesser of that number and two vehicles in preferential parking zones, where visitor permits are required. Vehicles may use available on-site parking or legal street parking. Hosts must actively prevent nuisances and comply with noise, health, fire, building and rent-control laws.
official source

The full picture

Santa Monica permits home-sharing in a host’s primary residence, with the host living on site throughout the stay. Unhosted vacation rentals of 30 consecutive days or less are prohibited; special accessory-dwelling-unit rules require separate review. Hosts need a City home-sharing permit and business license, qualifying liability coverage, and compliance with occupancy, vehicle and advertising limits. Home-share room rentals are subject to 17% transient occupancy tax unless exempt. Current permit and renewal fee totals remain unresolved.

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Transient Occupancy Tax (Home-Share rate) 17% of total room rental amount 17% of home-share room-rental charges, including required lodging amenities and maid service under Chapter 6.68. A qualifying 31-consecutive-day stay can receive a refund of previously collected TOT; if already remitted, the collector must first refund the occupant and seek a credit or refund within one year of payment to the City. Specified federal, California and Santa Monica official-business stays require an exemption certificate at registration. Reports and remittances are due the first business day of the following month; payment becomes delinquent after that month’s last day. Keep tax records for four years under Section 6.68.080; the City tax webpage’s two-year instruction conflicts with this code requirement. Actual collection by a named platform is not confirmed. Not verified source

Enforcement

PenaltiesSection 6.20.100 authorizes an infraction fine up to $750 or a misdemeanor fine up to $1,000, up to six months in County Jail, or both. Administrative fines under Chapters 1.09 and 1.10 are additional; the current dollar schedule remains unresolved. A criminal conviction or civil/administrative finding of violation requires reimbursement of investigative costs, back TOT and illegally obtained rental revenue. Under the currently linked November 2019 rules, two final citations during the permit term trigger suspension for 30 days or while at least one citation remains open, whichever is longer; three final citations trigger revocation. One final citation involving conduct endangering health or safety can also support revocation. Suspension and revocation take effect 10 days after mailing the notice of intent unless appealed under Chapter 6.16, rather than immediately upon citation. Initial or renewal applications may also be denied for specified citation histories. Delinquent TOT adds 10%, then another 10% after more than 30 days; any currently prescribed interest rate is unresolved.
Platform liabilitySection 6.20.050 makes hosting platforms responsible for applicable TOT collection and remittance as the host’s agent, requires regular disclosure of listing, responsible-person, address, stay-length and price information subject to applicable law, and prohibits residential booking transactions unless the property is on the City registry when the booking fee is received. Platforms also may not receive fees for ancillary services for illegal vacation rentals or unregistered home-shares. Internet-only platforms complying with these duties receive a presumption of compliance, but remain subject to administrative subpoenas. These legal duties do not establish a particular platform’s actual tax remittance.
NotesThe linked 2019 rules expressly preserve lease, HOA and CC&R restrictions. For a tenant hosting in a rent-controlled unit, those rules limit monthly home-sharing revenue to the unit’s monthly rent payment. Current property-specific rent-control, lease and association restrictions must be checked separately. The cited 2019 Ninth Circuit opinion concerns the historical platform challenge; subsequent litigation, settlement terms, statewide preemption and pending legislative changes are not comprehensively established in this record.

What we could not verify (7)

  • Current home-share permit/business-license initial and renewal totals are unresolved. The live city application page fetched 2026-09-06 no longer displays the prior $582.25 itemization; the 2019 Rules PDF lists $100 initial/$50 renewal, which may be superseded.
  • The City-linked Administrative Citation Fine Schedule was fetched, but it is labeled FY 2025-26 and therefore does not establish the current FY 2026-27 schedule as of September 2026. It lists a $150 default first violation, specified home-sharing advertising fines, 200%/300% repeat multipliers, and late charges, but none are stated as current in the draft.
  • Whether Santa Monica's Tourism Marketing District (TMD) per-room-night assessment (added on top of TOT, tiered by average daily rate) applies to home-shares or only to traditional hotels/motels was not conclusively confirmed from an official source; it has been left out of the taxes[] array pending that confirmation.
  • Two Santa Monica press releases about the Airbnb/HomeAway litigation and a 2019 Airbnb settlement (santamonica.gov/press/...) could not be fetched — both live and Wayback-archived versions returned only the site's bot-wall interstitial rather than article content. The core legal facts they'd support were instead confirmed directly against the 9th Circuit's own opinion PDF, so this does not affect any claim in the main fields, but the settlement terms specifically (santamonica.gov/press/2019/12/10/settlement-with-airbnb-guarantees-compliance-with-home-sharing-ordinance) were not verified and are not referenced above.
  • Named-platform TOT collection/remittance is not confirmed by the legal collection mandate alone. Confirm platform statements and direct-booking duties; tax records must be retained four years under current Chapter 6.68 despite the City webpage’s conflicting two-year instruction.
  • Current statewide preemption, pending legislation and subsequent litigation are not comprehensively established. Property-specific ADU eligibility, rent-control, lease, HOA and CC&R restrictions need separate review.
  • The application page appears to request prior 12-month residency proof from owners as well as non-owners; Chapter 6.20 and the linked rules distinguish owners from long-term residents. Confirm the current owner documentation policy. Current permit fees, recurring inspection requirements and tax delinquency interest rate remain unresolved.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /santa-monica-ca.md for AI tools and researchers.

STRWatch publishes educational information about short-term rental regulation, checked against the official sources linked above as of the date shown. It is not legal advice, and rules change — a city can move between the times we check it. For decisions with money at stake, confirm with the authority linked above or a local attorney.