Plumas County, CA Short-Term Rentals: Registration Rules (2026)

Registration in unincorporated Plumas County is handled through the Transient Occupancy Tax system, not a separate vacation-rental registry. Under Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance No. 544, an operator who rents a property to transients (occupancy of 30 days or less) must file a registration form with the County Treasurer-Tax Collector and obtain a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate before commencing operation. The official registration form asks for the owner, the business establishment, the operator (and notes operator responsibilities under Ordinance No. 544), any rental manager, who will file the TOT return, the parcel number or location, the first date the unit was rented on a 30-day-or-less basis, the form of ownership, and the number of occupancy units. The County has pursued compliance for unregistered listings, retaining a third-party compliance service to identify hundreds of unreported short-term rentals and bring them onto the tax roll. Registration is the practical 'license' to operate legally in the unincorporated county; failure to register before renting is the most common compliance gap. Operators should verify the latest form and process directly with the Treasurer-Tax Collector at P.O. Box 176, Quincy, CA 95971.