Apple Valley, CA Short-Term Rentals: Primary-Residence-Only Rule (2026)

The Town of Apple Valley does not impose a general primary-residence or owner-occupancy requirement on short-term rentals. Section 8.34.080 - the Town's short-term rental regulations - addresses certificates, inspection, occupancy, parking, TOT and penalties, but contains no clause requiring the operator to occupy the dwelling or restricting STRs to a host's primary residence. STRs are permitted in residential zones with a Special Use Permit (Chapter 9.28 use table) regardless of whether the owner lives on-site. The one place the Municipal Code ties short-term rentals to owner-occupancy is narrow and specific to state-law lot splits: Section 9.29.220, which governs SB 9 'Two-Unit Projects,' provides under 'Regulation of Uses' that '(B) No STRs. No dwelling unit on the lot may be rented for a period of less than 30 days,' and '(C) Owner Occupancy' requires the owner of such a two-unit lot to occupy one dwelling as their principal residence (unless the lot was formed by an urban lot split). That restriction applies only to SB 9 two-unit/urban-lot-split developments, not to short-term rentals generally. So for a standard single-family home, Apple Valley permits non-owner-occupied STRs through the SUP process. California's statewide ADU and SB 9 laws inform that narrow carve-out, but the Town imposes no broad primary-residence STR mandate.