Alameda, CA Short-Term Rentals: Host Presence Rule (2026)

The City of Alameda does not presently require a host to be on-site, or to designate a local contact, during a short-term rental stay, because it has not adopted an STR ordinance that would mandate it. Under current code, fully unhosted whole-home rentals are not prohibited, and there is no codified requirement for a host or agent to remain on the premises or live nearby. This places Alameda among the more permissive Bay Area cities on host presence as of the 2026 information available. That said, host presence was one of the central themes when the Planning Board took up STRs at its February 10, 2025 workshop: members expressed a clear preference for hosted and semi-hosted short-term rentals - where the property owner or operator is on-site or partially on-site - over fully unhosted rentals, and emphasized landlord on-site presence. Director-level staff also discussed targeting booking platforms rather than individual hosts and making compliance a business-licensing condition. These are policy preferences guiding a draft ordinance, not enacted requirements. Because this is the incorporated City of Alameda, any host-presence provisions in the unincorporated County's rules do not apply inside city limits. Hosts running unhosted whole-home rentals should treat the draft ordinance as a meaningful risk to their model and monitor City Council action, since a host-presence or local-contact requirement is among the more likely outcomes.