Cathedral City, CA Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Parking Rules (2026)

Cathedral City Municipal Code § 5.96.050(N) sets the parking cap for every short-term vacation rental (STVR) in Cathedral City, California. The limit is one vehicle per bedroom of the STVR, and the count covers the garage, the driveway, and the street together. A rental cannot treat the public street as extra capacity, because street spaces count against the same per-bedroom total. Vehicle parking in front of any mailbox is prohibited outright.

The duty to comply sits with the owner. Section 5.96.050(N) requires the owner or the owner's authorized agent or representative to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations related to parking of vehicles. Two other subsections push the limit into the paperwork. Subsection (I) requires every advertisement to identify the maximum number of cars allowed, alongside the maximum occupancy, and requires the permit number in the format "City of Cathedral City STVR Permit No." in the first line of the property description. Subsection (T) requires each rental contract to be filed with the city before occupancy or within twenty-four hours of execution of the contract, and the contract must set out the city code requirements on parking, together with occupancy limits, noise, outdoor amplified music prohibition, public nuisance, and trash.

Section 5.96.060 authorizes the city manager or designee to impose additional conditions on an individual rental to avoid or mitigate secondary effects unique to that property, so a particular permit can carry parking conditions beyond the standard cap. An owner can ask in writing for a modification of the standard conditions, but any hardship identified has to relate to physical constraints of the site and cannot be self-induced or economic.