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

Section 24-172.1 I.7.b sets the annual ceiling on nights an un-hosted short-term rental, meaning one where the resident owner is off-site during the guest's stay under Subsection B.5, can be rented out. The base limit is ninety nights per calendar year. A parcel qualifies for the higher one-hundred-eighty-night cap only if both conditions in the subsection are met: the applicable zone carries a minimum parcel size of five acres or more, and the specific parcel itself is five acres or larger. The night cap sits inside the broader occupancy and parking standards of Subsection I.7, which also caps rented bedrooms at five, sets floor-area minimums per bedroom, and limits overnight guests to fourteen on public sewer or ten on septic systems, excluding children under three.

The cap applies specifically to un-hosted stays; the ordinance does not impose an equivalent numeric night limit on hosted stays, where a resident remains on-site except during daytime or work hours under Subsection B.4. Because the night limit is tied to the un-hosted/hosted distinction defined in Subsections B.4 and B.5, and to the same five-acre threshold used elsewhere in Section 24-172.1, including the primary-residence exception under Subsection C.1.a and the minor use permit eligibility under Subsection E, converting an un-hosted rental to a hosted one, or meeting the five-acre threshold, changes which limit applies. The Department of Development Services enforces the cap through the administrative permit and its on-site inspection or self-certification authority under Subsection I.