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

Lodi's code does not contain a dedicated short-term rental ordinance or a rental registry built for platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo. 010(A): a hotel is any structure or portion of a structure occupied or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, a definition broad enough to include a single-family home or accessory unit rented out for a few nights, not just a commercial motel. A transient under the same section is anyone renting for thirty consecutive days or less. 020 requires every operator renting a hotel to transients to register with the city's tax administrator, the director of finance, within thirty days of the ordinance's effective date or within thirty days of starting to rent, whichever is later, and to obtain a transient occupancy registration certificate that must be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises at all times.

The certificate itself states the operator's name, the property address and the date it was issued. The code is explicit that this certificate is not a business license or land-use permit: it authorizes nothing beyond registration for tax collection and remittance, and the operator must still strictly comply with every other local law, including any permit required from another city department or board. In practice, a Lodi resident who wants to rent a spare room or a whole house on a short-term basis must register for this transient occupancy certificate and collect and remit the tax, even though the city has not adopted a separate short-term rental permit or cap on the number of nights or units.