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

Unlike some California jurisdictions, Riverside County Ordinance No. 927 contains no primary-residence or owner-occupancy requirement for short-term rentals in unincorporated areas. A short-term rental is defined broadly in Section 4 as any legal privately owned residential dwelling-including detached homes, attached units, condominiums, duplexes, mobile and manufactured homes on permanent foundations, and qualifying ADUs-rented for fewer than 30 days. Owners may operate whole-home, non-owner-occupied rentals. The ordinance does recognize 'Hosted Stays,' where the owner occupies the unit during the rental, and permits multiple booking transactions for a hosted stay (up to five rooms), but hosting is an option, not a mandate. Rather than requiring primary residency, the County controls investor saturation in its two most impacted communities. In both Idyllwild (including Pine Cove) and Temecula Valley Wine Country, no owner or owner entity may hold more than two STR certificates simultaneously (Sections 9 and 10), subject to a grandfather exception for owners who already held more. These same areas have hard caps-no more than 500 certificates in Idyllwild (about 14% of single-family units), 114 in the Winery District, 8 in the Equestrian District, and 105 in the Residential District of Wine Country-plus density spacing of 500 feet between rentals in Wine Country and 150 feet in Idyllwild. Eligible properties are selected through a tiered application and lottery process under Section 11.