Cupertino, CA Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)
Key Facts
- Un-hosted stay cap
- 60 nights per calendar year
- Hosted stay cap
- None, year-round
- Bookings per parcel
- One per night, max
- Records retention
- 3 years of stay records
- Reset period
- Calendar year (Jan 1)
Summary
Cupertino caps un-hosted short-term rental stays, where the host is not present, at sixty nights per calendar year under Municipal Code § 5.08.030. Hosted stays, where the host remains on-site for the entire rental, carry no annual limit and may occur throughout the year, giving on-site hosts far more flexibility than absentee ones.
4. Duration Hosted stays may occur throughout the calendar year without a limitation on the cumulative number of short-term rentals. Un-hosted stays shall be limited to sixty nights per calendar year.
Full Breakdown
020. A 'hosted stay' occurs while the host is occupying the primary residence for the entire rental term; those can occur throughout the calendar year without any cap on the cumulative number of nights rented. An 'un-hosted stay,' where the host is away from the residence during the rental, is capped at sixty nights in a calendar year. 030, item 12, which obligates the host to retain, for three years, records of every reservation, whether each stay was hosted or unhosted, the length of stay, and the number of guests, and to produce those records to the City on request.
060. 030, item 3, a host cannot get around the sixty-night un-hosted cap by running simultaneous listings on the same property. The cap applies per calendar year, not per rolling twelve months, so it resets on January 1.
Violations & Fines
Exceeding the sixty-night un-hosted cap, or misreporting hosted versus un-hosted stays in the required compliance records, is a Municipal Code violation under Chapter 5.08 that exposes the host to misdemeanor charges and administrative fines under § 5.08.070, and counts toward the two-violation threshold in § 5.08.050 that can trigger registration denial or revocation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many nights a year can I rent my Cupertino home if I'm not there?
Does the sixty-night cap reset every twelve months from when I started renting?
How does the City check compliance with the night cap?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Cupertino
California rules heatmap·Compare Cupertino to another location·View the California short-term rentals overview
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Night Caps in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Santa Clara County handle night caps.