Pismo Beach, CA Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

The City of Pismo Beach counts repeat violations under two provisions, and the code prints both.

License chapter. Section 5.22.140(B) lets the city prosecute short-term rental and homestay violations as infractions with minimum fines of $1,500.00 for an initial violation, $3,000.00 for a second violation of the same provision within one year, and $5,000.00 for each subsequent one. Operating without a license and violating the city's good neighbor policy are deemed threats to public health or safety, which is the finding that sets those amounts. For an initial violation the community development director can grant a hardship waiver to a licensee who made a bona fide effort to comply and would face an undue financial burden. No waiver is available for later violations. On a third violation of the same provision within a rolling one-year period, the director shall revoke the license.

Zoning chapter. Section 17.113.100(B) in the 1983 Zoning Ordinance, repeated word for word at § 17.09.100(B) in the 1998 Zoning Code, uses a twenty-four month window. The license can be revoked if the owner or responsible party is non-responsive to a complaint more than three times, has more than three significant violations, or is cited three or more times. A significant violation is a situation the owner cannot or will not fix within thirty minutes, one that needs public safety personnel, or one that causes substantial disturbance. The listed examples include ignoring a city call for thirty minutes, an unreachable responsible party, breaches of occupancy, visitor, parking, noise or trash limits, unpaid TOT, false application statements and health violations. The city manager decides what else counts, and revocation appeals follow § 1.24.110.

Administrative track. Under § 5.22.140(C) the director serves written notice, the fine is $1,000.00 per violation, and the owner has fifteen days to file the fine amount and request a hearing. The hearing is set no less than fifteen and no more than forty-five days after the request, and the decision, issued within thirty days, is final. Revocation is also mandatory when the residence is not the owner's primary residence or when two or more TOT submittals are late in twelve months.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.