Monterey County, CA Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Parking Rules (2026)

Monterey County treats short-term rental parking as both a zoning standard and a permitting checkpoint. Under Monterey County Code Section 21.64.290(F)(6), commercial vacation rentals (non-hosted units rented more than three times per 12-month period) in the unincorporated inland area must provide parking as required for the dwelling type by Section 21.58.040, or the applicable parking regulations at the time the dwelling was built. Section 21.58.040's table sets the baseline: a single-family detached dwelling must provide two off-street parking spaces per unit, while accessory dwelling units and junior ADUs are exempt from the count.

Homestays and limited vacation rentals (three or fewer non-hosted rentals per year) are not held to this numeric standard by Section 21.64.290, but every operator, regardless of rental type, must satisfy the license application requirements in Chapter 7.120. Section 7.120.090(B)(3)(d) requires the operations plan submitted with a vacation rental operation license application to provide an on-site parking plan, and Section 7.120.090(B)(2) requires site plans showing on-site parking areas and all structures. The County's Housing and Community Development Department, acting as the appropriate authority, reviews both the parking plan and the underlying zoning entitlement before issuing the annual license.

Big Sur and other coastal-zone parcels fall under the parallel coastal vacation rental section, Monterey County Code Section 20.64.290, which cross-references the coastal parking table at Section 20.58.040 rather than Section 21.58.040. A vacation rental that cannot demonstrate compliant on-site parking risks having its license application deemed incomplete, since the appropriate authority may grant a license only after confirming the checklist enumerating this Chapter's requirements has been met.