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

Tulare County Code Article 1-05 (Finance) is the only county-level code section that directly reaches short-term residential rentals. Its sole numeric threshold is the definition of 'transient' as a person who exercises occupancy 'for a period of thirty (30) consecutive calendar days or less' - a stay-length threshold for TOT purposes, not an occupancy cap. The draft 2024 STR ordinance considered by the Board would have limited the number of occupants based on the number of bedrooms in the dwelling and would have allowed only 'habitable interior spaces in permitted dwellings' to be rented, expressly prohibiting rental of garages, tents, treehouses, yurts, camper trailers, recreational vehicles or other exterior structures. That ordinance was rejected 3-2 on July 9, 2024, so no per-bedroom or total-guest cap was adopted. Operators remain subject to general state Building Code and Fire Code occupant-load rules for the underlying dwelling type, to platform-imposed caps, and to general nuisance and noise provisions, but the county itself has not adopted an STR occupancy ceiling.