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

Chapter 5.96 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code, enacted by Ordinance 842 (2020) and amended by Ordinance 859 (2022) in Riverside County, California, makes the STVR permit the gate for every vacation rental. Section 5.96.035(A) bars use of any qualifying residential dwelling unit for a short-term vacation rental without a valid permit, and § 5.96.040(A) requires the owner to sign the application and obtain the permit before renting or advertising a short-term vacation rental unit or home share unit. The permit also folds in the transient occupancy registration required by Chapter 3.24.

New permits are narrow. Under § 5.96.035(B) the city issues a new permit only for home sharing in a qualifying residential dwelling unit or for a short-term vacation rental in a qualifying unit inside a common interest development. Renewals follow the same two exceptions, and § 5.96.035(D) terminated all other existing STVR permits on January 1, 2023. A lessee of a long term rental cannot obtain a permit, fractionally owned properties cannot be used, and each property needs its own uniquely numbered permit, so multiple rentals under one permit are prohibited.

The application names the owner, any agent, and a local contact person available twenty-four hours a day. It states the address, the number of bedrooms and the occupancy limit, and includes a photo of the front of the unit at least four inches by five inches, transient occupancy tax registration information, an executed indemnification agreement, a signed consent to inspection, and an owner's affidavit under penalty of perjury. The fee is set by city council resolution. The city completes a health and safety inspection before every new and renewal permit.

If a renewal application is not submitted and the fees are not paid by expiration, the owner has thirty days from the expiration date to come into compliance. A change of ownership or agent requires a new application within fourteen days. A sold property requires cancelling the permit and deleting advertisements within seven days. Within thirty days of issuance the city mails notice to residences within one hundred and fifty feet. A prior suspension or revocation within the past twelve months and open code or building compliance proceedings are grounds for denial.