Sacramento County does not require the host to be present during every unincorporated-area short-term rental stay, but the program is anchored to owner occupancy: the home must be a primary residence lived in at least six months a year. A Local Contact Person must be available 24 hours by phone and able to reach the property within 60 minutes.
Sacramento County's short-term rental ordinance for unincorporated areas does not impose a strict on-site host-presence rule requiring the owner to sleep in the home during every guest stay. Instead, the County ties short-term rentals to owner occupancy in a different way: the property must be the operator's (or a long-term renter's) primary residence, occupied at least six months out of the year, and the short-term rental must remain an accessory use subordinate to that full-time occupancy. Because the home must be a primary residence and only one permit is allowed per applicant, the County's framework effectively prevents fully absentee, multi-property STR operations even though it does not mandate that the host be present for each individual booking. To ensure someone responsible can respond at all times, the County requires a Local Contact Person who is personally available by telephone on a 24-hour basis, who maintains the ability to be on-site within 60 minutes, and who has the access and authority to assume management of the unit. This Local Contact Person can be the owner or a designated agent, and serves the role of a responsible party that some other jurisdictions fill with an on-site host requirement. Operators must document this contact in the permit application and reinforce guest expectations through the required information flyer posted in the unit. The combination of the primary-residence requirement, the single-permit limit, and the 24-hour Local Contact Person reflects the County's intent to keep short-term rental an accessory, responsibly managed use rather than a remotely operated commercial lodging business.
Operating without a qualifying Local Contact Person - someone reachable by phone 24 hours a day who can be on-site within 60 minutes and has authority to manage the unit - violates Sacramento County Code Chapter 4.08. Letting the property cease to be a primary residence (so the short-term rental is no longer an accessory use) is grounds for permit denial or revocation. Verified violations of these requirements are subject to the County's escalating administrative fines of up to $1,500 for a first violation, up to $3,000 for a second within one year, and up to $5,000 for each additional violation.
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