Berkeley, CA Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)

050(F), titled 'Liability Insurance,' is short and specific: liability insurance is required of the host, or hosting platform on behalf of the host, in the amount of at least $1 million. That figure is not a suggestion, it sits inside the chapter's mandatory 'Operating Standards and Requirements,' whose opening line states that a short-term rental must conform to all of the operating standards and requirements in the section, insurance included, alongside proof of host residency, the day-count limits, occupant caps, neighbor notification, enforcement fees, document handoffs to guests, and transient occupancy tax.

Because the ordinance names the hosting platform as an acceptable source of the coverage, a host who books exclusively through a platform carrying at least $1 million in host-liability protection, the kind several major booking platforms provide automatically, satisfies the requirement without buying a separate policy; a host who takes direct bookings, cash payments, or uses a platform without that coverage has to secure their own $1 million policy. 70) at booking and arrival, so the insurance duty sits alongside a documented disclosure record the City can check during enforcement.