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

Unincorporated Mendocino County does not impose a host-presence (owner-on-site) requirement for short-term rentals. The enacted coastal and Town rules under Chapter 20.748 contemplate whole-home Vacation Home Rentals and Single Unit Rentals that operate without the owner present, and the Board of Supervisors gave no direction requiring on-site hosting when it discussed the draft inland ordinance in February 2026. Instead, the draft favored a Good Neighbor Policy under which operators provide guests and neighbors with information including emergency contacts and how to file complaints, effectively pushing toward a designated responsible/local contact rather than physical host presence. Separately, the certified coastal code preserves a hosted option as an accessory use: Section 20.456.015(H) ('Room and Board') allows 'the renting of not more than one (1) room for occupancy by transient guests for compensation or profit,' though this use is prohibited in an ADU or JADU. Because the inland ordinance remained in draft as of mid-2026, and because best practice (and likely future policy) is to name a local contact reachable by neighbors and emergency responders, operators should designate a 24/7 contact even though host presence itself is not mandated.