Santa Fe, NM Short-Term Rentals: Noise Rules (2026)

Section 14-6.2(A)(5)(e)(ix) of the Santa Fe Land Development Code sets a hard 10:00 p.m. cutoff for noise or other disturbance coming from a short-term rental unit, and it does not stop at the walls of the building: the same subsection names decks, portals, porches, balconies, and patios as covered outdoor spaces, so a gathering that spills onto a patio after 10:00 p.m. is treated the same as noise from inside. The rule works alongside Section 14-6.2(A)(5)(e)(vii), which bars using a residentially zoned short-term rental for commercial activities or events and defines an event as 'not residential in nature' if it draws more than twice the number of legally allowed guests, a bright-line test enforcement officers can apply to loud parties.

The ordinance's own purpose clause, Section 14-6.2(A)(5)(a)(iv), states that minimizing noise and other public nuisances associated with short-term rentals is one of the reasons the permit system exists. Owners and operators must also give guests written notice of the city's nuisance ordinance under Section 14-6.2(A)(5)(e)(x), and guests themselves must comply with it. A short-term rental owner or operator who allows noise past 10:00 p.m., or who allows an oversized gathering, is subject to the same civil fine schedule and permit revocation authority that governs every other violation of subsection 14-6.2(A)(5).