The City of Sonoma's vacation-rental ordinance (SMC §19.50.140) does not require operators to carry a minimum liability-insurance policy; California state law similarly does not impose a host-insurance floor, leaving coverage up to the operator and any platform-provided host protection.
Unlike Berkeley ($1M required) or San Francisco/Los Angeles ($500K required), the City of Sonoma's December 2017 vacation-rental ordinance contains no minimum liability-insurance threshold for permit-holders. California Civil Code §1864 (added by AB 2351, eff. 2015) requires hosting platforms to NOTIFY hosts that they should review their insurance, but does not itself set a minimum coverage amount. The practical floor is therefore whatever the booking platform provides: Airbnb's AirCover Host Liability Insurance ($1M per stay) and VRBO's Liability Insurance ($1M per booking) attach automatically to qualifying reservations. Operators booking direct (off-platform) have no statutory or municipal coverage and rely on their own homeowner's or commercial-rental policy — standard HO-3 forms exclude business pursuits, so a short-term-rental endorsement or stand-alone commercial-residential rental policy is essentially required to avoid an uncovered claim.
No City citation applies because no policy is required. Uninsured operators face full personal civil liability for guest injuries or third-party property damage and risk denied claims under a non-commercial homeowner's policy. Note: the use permit on a grandfathered vacation rental may include a condition of approval requiring liability coverage — check the original approval letter.
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