Bellflower, CA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Cities that license short-term rentals usually cap overnight guests (for example, two per bedroom plus two) to limit neighborhood impacts. Bellflower has no such cap because it does not authorize residential STRs in the first place, so there is no STR-specific occupancy table in the code. Instead, the relevant concept in Bellflower's zoning code is the household: the Municipal Code defines a household as a single person or a group functioning as the equivalent of a family - described as a nontransient, interactive group - occupying a dwelling unit. By definition, a rotating set of paying overnight guests is transient and is not a household, which is consistent with the city treating short-term lodging as a hotel/motel use rather than a residential one. The code separately limits transient stays in lodging establishments, defining a transient as someone occupying a room for 30 consecutive days or less and confining that activity to permitted hotels and motels. Day-to-day occupancy of a home in Bellflower is therefore governed by ordinary standards - the household definition, applicable building and housing codes, and any unit-count limits in the relevant residential zone - rather than by an STR guest cap. Anyone evaluating how many people may lawfully occupy a particular dwelling, or whether any lodging use is possible on a parcel, should consult the Planning Division for the controlling zone and the Building Division for occupancy standards.