Bishop, CA Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

Unlike some jurisdictions that limit unhosted rentals to a set number of nights per year, Inyo County's Chapter 18.73 controls supply through area-based permit caps rather than annual night limits. The ordinance sets a maximum number of short-term rental permits for each of roughly a dozen designated areas/communities; reported figures range from as few as 2 permits in the Starlite area to as many as 29 in the South/Southeast County, with other communities falling in between. The County has treated about 5% of dwelling units in a defined area (the figure cited for Lone Pine) as a potential cap concept. Once the maximum number of permits for an area has been reached at the time an application is deemed complete, no further permits are issued there. As of an October 2022 staff briefing, the County had issued roughly 88 short-term rental permits across about 4,561 dwelling units (about 2% county-wide). On top of these caps, the Board of Supervisors imposed a moratorium in December 2022 that suspended acceptance of new permit applications while staff study housing impacts, so new permits generally cannot be obtained in unincorporated areas at this time. Because all permitted rentals must be hosted, the County does not impose a separate annual night cap on the number of nights a property may be rented.