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

Tehama County's published short-term rental program centers on permitting and transient occupancy tax rather than a detailed list of operational standards. The County's STR/TOT materials confirm the permit requirement (effective June 20, 2024) and the 8% TOT but do not state a numeric occupancy limit (for example, a 'two persons per bedroom plus two' formula) for vacation rentals. As a result, occupancy in an unincorporated-county short-term rental is governed by the same baseline rules that apply to dwellings generally: the residential use standards of the County Zoning Ordinance (Title 17), the occupant-load and life-safety limits set by the California Building and Fire Codes adopted by the County, and the County's nuisance provisions that address overcrowding-related impacts. California state law (the Building Standards and Health and Safety Codes) sets minimum floor-area and habitability standards that effectively cap how many people a dwelling can lawfully house. Because the County has not adopted a published per-bedroom STR occupancy cap that we could verify, hosts should not assume a specific number; instead, confirm any conditions attached to the STR Permit directly with the Planning Department, and keep occupancy within the dwelling's lawful building/fire capacity and within whatever conditions appear on the issued permit. This honest framing avoids implying a numeric cap that the County has not published.