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

3 was adopted to allow limited short-term rental use while preventing the loss of long-term housing stock, protecting residential character and giving the City a way to track compliance and collect transient occupancy tax. Before a host advertises or makes a primary residence available for short-term rental, the host must submit a registration application on a City-prepared form listing the host's name and contact information, the address of the primary residence, the name and contact information of a designated local contact person, and a signed acknowledgement of compliance with the Zoning Ordinance, the Municipal Code and applicable health and safety standards.

The application must be accompanied by a filing fee set by City Council resolution. The City Manager or a designee approves a complete application only if the host demonstrates the ability to meet the section's requirements, the property has no active compliance order or citation from the past twelve months, and no registration for that address was denied or revoked in the prior twenty-four months. Approved registrations run on a fiscal-year basis, are personal to the host, cannot be assigned or transferred, and automatically expire when the dwelling unit is sold.

Annual renewal requires payment of the renewal fee and proof that transient occupancy tax due on the rental has been remitted. Accessory dwelling units cannot be newly registered as short-term rentals; the only exception covers ADUs already registered with the City before January 1, 2020. Hosts who were renting before the ordinance took effect got a one-year amnesty window to register and come into compliance with the operating standards; unregistered rentals that missed that window must stop operating until they conform.