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

Chapter VIII, section 8-12 of the Novato Municipal Code is the Short-Term Rental Licensing Program. Section 8-12.1 requires a Short Term Rental license from the City of Novato before anyone rents all or a portion of a dwelling unit as a Short Term Rental. The license is a condition precedent, so the rental cannot start first and apply later.

The code itself does not print the eligibility standards or operating rules. It delegates them to the Novato City Council's Short-Term Rental Licensing Program Eligibility Standards, Licensing Procedures and Operational Parameters, adopted and amended from time to time by city council resolution. The procedures, requirements and basis for issuing and revoking licenses are all set in that program, and every Short Term Rental must comply with those policies and procedures. An operator therefore reads two documents: section 8-12 and the current council resolution.

The tax chapter shows how the city classifies these rentals. Section 16-2.2 defines a hotel to include a short-term rental of all or a portion of a dwelling unit for less than 30 consecutive days of tenancy, and defines a transient as a person occupying for 30 consecutive calendar days or less. A licensed short-term rental is a lodging use for the city's uniform hotel room tax in Chapter XVI.

Enforcement runs through section 8-12.2. Any Short Term Rental operated, conducted or maintained contrary to section 8-12 or to the program is unlawful and a public nuisance. The city attorney can bring an action for abatement, removal and enjoinment in addition to, or in place of, a criminal action. Those remedies add to the judicial and administrative penalties available to the City under sections 1-5, 1-6 and 1-7 of the code.