Short-Term Rentals in Placer County, CA (2026)
7 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Placer County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Short-Term Rental Permits
In unincorporated eastern Placer County (North Lake Tahoe, above 5,000 feet), every short-term vacation rental needs a county STR permit under Code Article 9.42, plus a TOT certificate and business license. Western Placer County requires only a TOT certificate.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Permit Requirements
Some RestrictionsPlacer County Code § 9.42.030 (Short-Term Vacation Rentals)
Any property owner or professional property management company who leases, rents or otherwise makes available for compensation a short-term rental unit for a period of fewer than 30 days must first obtain a short-term rental permit pursuant to this article prior to advertising and/or operating the STR unit. The short-term rental permit is in addition to the transient occupancy tax permit that i...
Noise Rules
Short-term rental guests in eastern Placer County must follow the county's general noise ordinance plus Tahoe Basin CNEL levels, and the STR rules go further: amplified sound can never be audible from the property line, and a 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. quiet-hours window bans any audible sound from the rental at all during those hours.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Quiet Hours
Significant RestrictionsPlacer County Code § 9.42.080(D)
D. Noise. All short-term rental guests are required to comply with the standards of Placer County Code Article 9.36 (Noise) and the community noise equivalent levels (CNEL) of the Tahoe Basin Area Plan with the following additions: 1. The daytime and nighttime noise limits shall be posted inside the vacation rental in a location readily visible to all guests. 2. Amplified sound, meaning sound w...
Taxes & Fees
Placer County charges Transient Occupancy Tax of 10% in the eastern slope (North Lake Tahoe) and 8% on the western slope, plus a North Lake Tahoe TBID assessment of 1-2%. STR fees include a $326.02 application fee and a $507.02 interior fire inspection.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Taxes and Fees
Some RestrictionsPlacer County Treasurer-Tax Collector — TOT Tax Rate
Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) rates in Placer County: Eastern Slope (North Lake Tahoe Area) - 10%; Western Slope - 8%. For properties in Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows, an additional 1% assessment is due for bookings made before and up to January 31, 2023; for bookings made on or after February 1, 2023, this assessment amount is 1.5%. North Lake Tahoe TBID properties are assessed an extra 1%...
Short-Term Rental Parking Rules
Every short-term rental permitted in eastern Placer County must provide on-site parking for guest vehicles, boats and trailers, or else a county-approved off-site parking plan; parking on the roadway or encroaching into it is barred outright, and winter parking has to follow the county's snow-area rules too.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Parking Rules
Some RestrictionsPlacer County Code § 9.42.080(C)
C. Parking. On-site parking for all vehicles, boats and trailer parking shall be provided for each short-term rental. If the property does not have on-site parking the property owner shall have a county-approved parking plan designating the location of off-site parking. There shall be no parking on the roadway and on-site parking shall not encroach into the roadway. In addition, snow area parki...
Occupancy Limits
Placer County Code Article 9.42 sets maximum STR occupancy at two people per bedroom plus two additional people, excluding children under 16, and caps overnight occupancy regardless of square footage. The director may approve case-by-case increases.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Occupancy Limits
Light RestrictionsPlacer County Code § 9.42.060 (Operating Standards - Occupancy)
Nighttime occupancy is defined as two people per bedroom, plus two additional people, up to a maximum of 12 guests, excluding children under twelve (12) years of age. Occupancy limits may be increased on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the agency director or if a permit has been issued by the county pursuant to Placer County Code Section 17.56.300(B) and shall not exceed occupancy de...
Night Caps
Once Placer County's short-term rental program hits its hard cap of 3,900 permits in the Eastern Placer County STR Area, no new permits issue except through a waitlist, and every permitted rental must then be rented at least 30 nights a year to keep its permit, with owner-occupied properties exempted from that minimum.
Placer County STR Permit Cap & Night Minimum
Significant RestrictionsPlacer County Code §§ 9.42.040(A), 9.42.080(P)
A. Cap. Effective March 31, 2022, the total number of residential short-term rental unit permits issued shall be capped at 3,900 ("overall cap inventory"). Hotels, motels, condo-hotels (as defined herein) and timeshares are not subject to this article and therefore not subject to this cap. ... P. Minimum Number of Days and Nights for Rent or Lease. Once the STR cap has been reached, short-term ...
Repeat Violator Strikes
A Placer County short-term rental permit can be revoked once its owner racks up three citations within any 24-month period, and any STR that draws three notices of violation within 90 days automatically triggers a $1,500 citation regardless of whether each violation was fixed in time. Placer County Code § 9.42.100 sets the escalating penalty and revocation ladder.
Placer County Short-Term Rental Repeat-Violator Strikes
Significant RestrictionsPlacer County Code § 9.42.100(F)(2)
A short-term rental that receives a total of three notices of violation within a 90 day period shall result in the issuance of a citation to the property owner for an administrative penalty of $1,500 regardless of whether the violations were cured within the specified timeframe. ... F. Revocation of a Short-Term Rental Permit. The county may revoke a short-term rental permit for any of the foll...
Short-Term Rentals by City in Placer County
1 cities in Placer County have their own short-term rentals rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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