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

Merced County's Zoning Code separates hosted rentals from vacation rentals and gives only the vacation-rental category a hard annual operating cap. Section 18.60.270(F)(1), titled Limited Operations, states that vacation rental operations shall be limited to 180 cumulative days in a calendar year, meaning an unhosted rental cannot legally be booked for more than half the year regardless of how the days are distributed across the calendar. The same subsection layers on additional restrictions specific to vacation rentals: F(2) caps special events, including weddings, receptions, and parties, at a maximum of three per year, each requiring approval of a Temporary Use Permit under Chapter 18.124; F(3) bars outdoor amplified sound entirely unless a Temporary Use Permit authorizes it; and F(4) provides that the vacation-rental use automatically expires upon the sale or transfer of the property, so a buyer cannot simply inherit the seller's permit and continue renting past that point.

Because vacation rentals are unhosted, the county treats the 180-day ceiling as the core check on converting single-family housing stock into full-time lodging: exceeding it converts the operation into something closer to a hotel or motel use, which the definitions at subsection B(1) expressly exclude from the short-term rental category. Compliance is tracked through the Transient Occupancy Tax records and guest registration logs the owner must keep for three years under subsection D(3), which the County Treasurer/Tax Collector can review to confirm the days actually rented.