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

Annual night caps (for example, 90 or 180 rental nights per year) are tools cities use to limit otherwise-permitted STRs. Tustin uses no such cap because it permits no short-term rentals at all. Per the City's official FAQ, short-term rentals are prohibited and any residential rental of fewer than 30 days is a hotel/motel use not allowed in residential districts. There is therefore no permitted number of STR nights, partial-day counting rule, or per-permit-year allowance — the lawful number of sub-30-day rental nights is effectively zero. This is the strictest possible posture: rather than capping nights, Tustin forecloses the use. The only rental nights a Tustin homeowner may lawfully offer are within a tenancy of 30 calendar days or more, which is by definition not a short-term rental and is not subject to any night cap. Owners comparing Tustin to cap-based cities should understand the difference: there is nothing to count toward a cap because the threshold question — whether any sub-30-day rental is allowed — is answered 'no.' Anyone seeking to host transient guests must do so through a permitted hotel or motel in an appropriately zoned location, where occupancy is unrestricted by residential STR night caps and is instead governed by the commercial use's own standards and the 13% Transient Occupancy Tax.