Bellflower, CA Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

The City of Bellflower's Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance is found in Chapter 3.16 of the Municipal Code. It was adopted as Ordinance No. 673 following an election on Tuesday, April 12, 1988, when Bellflower voters approved the tax. The California State Controller's Office reports Bellflower's TOT rate as 9.00% with an effective date of April 12, 1988, and the state's open-data TOT dataset lists Bellflower (Los Angeles County) at a 9.00% rate, reporting roughly $1.19 million in TOT revenue for fiscal year 2024. Under the ordinance, the tax is a percentage of the rent charged by the operator and is paid by the transient to the operator at the time rent is paid; the operator holds the tax in trust and remits it to the city's Tax Administrator. A transient is a person who occupies lodging for 30 consecutive days or less. Operators must register with the Tax Administrator, obtain a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate, and file returns - the ordinance ties returns and remittance to the close of each calendar quarter, with payment due on or before the last day of the month following the quarter (or a shorter period the Tax Administrator sets). Importantly, this 9% tax attaches to permitted lodging such as the hotels and motels operating in Bellflower's commercial corridors. There is no short-term rental application fee, business-license STR fee, or per-night STR surcharge in the code because Bellflower does not authorize or license residential short-term rentals. Operators should confirm current return forms and remittance procedures with the Bellflower Finance Department.