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

The binding registration requirement comes from the Transient Occupancy Tax Law, Tulare County Code section 1-05-1380. Every person engaging or about to engage in business as an operator of a hotel or short-term residential rental in the unincorporated area must register with the Tax Collector on a form available at the Office of the Tax Collector or on the Tulare County Tax Collector's website. Registration is due within 30 days after commencing business. Within 10 days of receiving the registration form, the Tax Collector issues, without charge, a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate (a 'certificate of authority') to collect the tax from transients. Each certificate must be prominently displayed in the rental 'so as to be seen and come to the notice readily of all occupants and persons seeking occupancy,' and it must show the operator's name, the property address, and the issue date. Certificates are nonassignable and nontransferable and must be surrendered within 5 days upon cessation, sale, or transfer of the rental. Under section 1-05-1357, advertising a unit for transient rental (signs, Internet listings, etc.) is prima facie evidence that a person is in the short-term residential rental business and therefore subject to these rules. This certificate is purely a tax-registration document; the Code states it 'does not constitute a permit.'