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

There is no maximum-guest or maximum-overnight-occupancy number written for short-term rentals in unincorporated Imperial County, because the County has not adopted a vacation-rental ordinance that would set one. Occupancy is instead constrained by the generally applicable codes. Imperial County's Title 9, Division 10 (Building & Grading Regulations) adopts the California Building Standards Code, including the California Building Code and California Residential Code, which set minimum room sizes, egress, and sanitation standards that effectively limit how many people a dwelling can lawfully sleep. The Land Use Ordinance also distinguishes dwelling uses from commercial lodging: a dwelling is defined for living that includes sleeping and cooking, while hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and guest ranches are separate, more intensively regulated uses. For a commercial lodging use that does require a Conditional Use Permit (such as a guest ranch in the A-3 zone under § 90509.02), the County can impose occupancy and operational conditions through that discretionary review. Overcrowding can also be addressed as a nuisance or unsafe-building matter under Division 10, which declares structures that are unsanitary or a menace to health a public nuisance. In short, an Imperial County host should size occupancy to the bedrooms and building-code capacity of the dwelling, not to an STR ordinance number that does not exist.