Mountain View, CA Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)
Key Facts
- Unhosted annual cap
- 60 days/calendar year, Sec. 44.4.b.2
- Hosted rentals
- No annual cap, Sec. 44.4.b.1
- Max single stay
- 30 consecutive days, Sec. 44.2.f
- Records retention
- 3 years, Sec. 44.13
- Renewal deadline
- December 15 annually, Sec. 44.8
Summary
An unhosted short-term rental in Mountain View cannot operate more than 60 days per calendar year under City Code Sec. 44.4.b.2. Hosted rentals, where the owner or tenant remains on site, face no such cap, making host presence the deciding factor in how many nights a unit can be rented.
b.Annual limit.1.Where the host is present, the dwelling unit may be occupied as a short-term rental for an unlimited number of days per calendar year.2.Where a host is not present, the dwelling unit may be occupied as a short-term rental no more than sixty (60) days per calendar year.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 34 Update 4).
Full Breakdown
b sets Mountain View's annual limit structure for short-term rentals. Subsection 1 allows unlimited days when the host is present in the dwelling unit throughout the stay. Subsection 2 caps every other short-term rental, meaning any rental where the host is not present, at no more than 60 days per calendar year. Because the code defines a short-term rental as any stay of 30 or fewer consecutive calendar days (Sec. f), a single unhosted booking can run up to 30 days at a time, but the cumulative total across all unhosted bookings in one calendar year cannot exceed 60 days.
Accessory dwelling units are pulled out of the unhosted category and treated as hosted, and therefore uncapped, whenever the owner or tenant is present anywhere on the property (Sec. 3). The city tracks compliance through registration records: hosts must retain documentation of short-term rental activity, including transient occupancy tax payments, for three years and produce it to the city on request for inspection or audit (Sec. 13). Registrations run on a calendar-year basis and must be renewed annually, including proof of a current business license, by December 15 of each year or the registration expires (Sec. 7, Sec. 8).
Violations & Fines
Exceeding the 60-day unhosted cap, or falsely claiming hosted status to bypass it, violates Chapter 44 under Sec. 44.3 and Sec. 44.4. The city can issue an administrative citation or compliance order, and a registration found to involve fraud, misrepresentation or a false statement in the application or operation of the rental may be revoked under Sec. 44.12.a. Any property with an active citation, compliance order, or a denied/revoked registration within the preceding 12 months will have a new registration application denied under Sec. 44.6.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days a year can I rent my Mountain View home short-term without being present?
Does the 60-day cap reset every year?
What happens if I go over 60 unhosted days?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mountain View
California rules heatmap·Compare Mountain View 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.