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

There is no County rule capping the number of nights a property may be rented per year or limiting bookings to a set number of days, since the unincorporated area has not adopted a vacation-rental ordinance with such limits. The only meaningful night threshold is the dividing line in the Transient Occupancy Tax. The County treats a stay of 30 days or less as a taxable transient occupancy; the TOT exemption form explains that "the transient must pay tax for the first 30 days of occupancy unless there is an agreement in writing between the operator and the occupant providing for a longer period of occupancy," and the quarterly return allows a deduction for rent paid by permanent residents. In other words, 30 days is the boundary between a taxable short stay and a longer-term tenancy, not a ceiling on how many nights a host may offer across a year. Hosts may rent as many nights as the underlying zoning and home-occupation rules allow, while collecting the 8% TOT on each qualifying stay. California imposes no statewide annual night cap, so no day-count limit applies here beyond the 30-day tax boundary.