Mesa cannot limit short-term rentals to a host's primary residence. ARS §9-500.39 protects investor-owned vacation homes, so non-primary properties may operate as STRs throughout the city subject only to registration and tax compliance.
Cities like Santa Monica restrict STRs to primary residences to curb housing loss. Arizona explicitly forbids that approach. ARS §9-500.39 prevents cities from limiting vacation and short-term rentals based on the owner's residency status, and it forbids classification of STRs as a separate land use category. Mesa accordingly allows whole-home rentals of non-owner-occupied investment properties so long as the operator obtains a transaction privilege tax license, registers the unit annually with the city, and meets life-safety requirements. Mesa cannot cap how many days a non-primary STR may book per year.
Operating an unregistered STR or failing to display a permit number in listings results in escalating fines up to fifteen hundred dollars per violation under Mesa code.
Mesa, AZ
Mesa cannot require that the owner or a designated host live on-site during short-term rental stays. ARS §9-500.39 preempts cities from banning unhosted whol...
Mesa, AZ
Mesa STR rules apply only to stays under thirty consecutive days. Bookings of thirty-one nights or more convert to ordinary residential tenancies governed by...
See how other cities in Maricopa County handle primary-residence-only rule.
See how Mesa's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
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