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

The Milpitas Short-Term Rental ordinance, Municipal Code Chapter C.10.200, was adopted to keep STRs from displacing long-term housing and altering neighborhood character (Subsection A). Subsection B.3 draws a hard line on which structures qualify: an STR may only operate inside a primary dwelling unit. Accessory dwelling units, detached accessory structures, and recreational vehicles are expressly excluded, even though ADUs are legal accessory housing elsewhere in the Zoning Ordinance. Subsection C.6 reinforces the primary-residence character of the program by requiring every rental to be 'hosted': the owner or operator must be living in and physically present at the dwelling unit during the stay.

Un-hosted arrangements, where a guest occupies the entire unit without the host present, are prohibited outright, regardless of which zone the property sits in (STRs are otherwise allowed in the R1, R2, R3, R4, MXD, MXD3, NCMU, and TC zones under Subsection B.1). Together, the two rules mean an investor-owned second home or a rented-out ADU cannot legally become a Milpitas STR; only a household actually living in its own primary unit can list it. The Director of Planning and Neighborhood Services enforces this through the Short-Term Rental Permit application and annual compliance review under Subsection E, and Subsection G allows the Director to revoke the permit, after notice and a hearing under Section D.18.070, for any operation that violates the primary-unit or hosted-only requirements.