10 verified short-term rentals rules for Santa Barbara, California, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
The City of Santa Barbara treats short-term rentals as 'Hotels and Similar Uses' and strictly prohibits them in single-unit residential zones. An STR is only allowed in zones where a hotel may be permitted, requires a change-of-use approval and Zoning Clearance, and in the coastal zone needs a Coastal Development Permit. This is a city rule, distinct from Santa Barbara County's separate ordinance.
Santa Barbara does not impose a separate STR-specific noise ordinance; short-term rentals are subject to the City's general noise regulations and nuisance rules. Noise, parking, littering, traffic, and 'party house' impacts are core reasons the City restricts STRs in residential zones, and noise-related complaints are a primary trigger for the City Attorney's STR enforcement program, especially in the coastal zone.
Santa Barbara levies a 12% Transient Occupancy Tax on every short-term rental stay of 30 days or less, of which 10% is unrestricted revenue and 2% is restricted to Creeks Restoration and Water Quality Improvement (Measure B). A separate 2% Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) assessment also applies. Operators collect these and remit monthly to the City by the 10th.
Santa Barbara applies hotel parking standards to short-term rentals: one space per guestroom or sleeping unit, or the residential housing-type requirement, whichever is greater, with each bedroom counted as a sleeping unit. Parking cannot back out onto the street, so an onsite turnaround is required. A unit converted to an STR also loses eligibility for the Residential Parking Program.
Because Santa Barbara regulates STRs as hotels, occupancy and building standards follow hotel and Building Code rules rather than a fixed nightly guest cap. The City notes that a dwelling with six or more sleeping rooms, or ten or more occupants, changing from permanent to short-term occupancy constitutes a change in occupancy classification that can trigger fire partitions and Building Code requirements.
The City of Santa Barbara's published STR materials do not impose a specific liability-insurance minimum for short-term rentals, because STRs are regulated as hotel uses through zoning and tax rather than a stand-alone STR license. Operators are instead subject to hotel-use, Building Code, and tax requirements; no City-mandated insurance dollar amount could be confirmed from the City's sources.
Santa Barbara does not use an annual night cap; instead it sets a 30-day stay threshold that defines what counts as transient. Any rental of 30 consecutive days or less (less than 30 days in the coastal zone) is a short-term, hotel-style use, and such use is permanently prohibited in residential zones rather than allowed for a limited number of nights per year.
Every Santa Barbara STR operator must hold a City business tax certificate and register with the City Finance Department's Accounts Receivable office within 30 days of starting operations to remit Transient Occupancy Tax and the TBID assessment. Coastal-zone rentals use business tax schedule 37-02 and non-coastal use 37-01. A Zoning Clearance documenting the change of use is also required.
Current Santa Barbara code has no host-presence requirement because STRs are treated as commercial hotels, not hosted home shares, and are barred from residential zones. The City's proposed 'home share' concept would require the owner or designated host to be physically present, and a key open policy question is whether to allow any non-hosted home shares at all.
Santa Barbara's current code does not offer a primary-residence 'home share' permit; STRs are treated as commercial hotel uses and are barred from single-unit and two-unit residential zones regardless of whether the host lives there. A proposed program would add a 'home share' category requiring the unit to be the primary residence of the owner or host, but it is not yet adopted.
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Santa Barbara city rules.
Short-Term Rentals in Santa Barbara County →