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

LEMC § 5.86.020 defines a short-term rental as a privately owned dwelling rented for less than 30 consecutive days and states plainly that 'a short-term rental is a hotel for purposes of Chapter 3.32 LEMC,' the City's Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance. Section 5.86.040(B) requires every person operating a short-term rental to comply with the transient occupancy tax requirements of Chapter 3.32 and to obtain a transient occupancy registration certificate under § 3.32.060 before operating. Chapter 3.32 itself imposes the tax on every transient occupying the hotel/rental, at a rate the City Council sets by resolution rather than a fixed number printed in the code, payable to the operator at the time rent is paid (§ 3.32.030).

Registration must occur within 30 days of starting business, and the certificate must be posted conspicuously on the premises (§ 3.32.060). Operators must report and remit collected tax quarterly, or on a shorter cycle the Tax Administrator sets, and keep records for three years (§§ 3.32.070, 3.32.110). Failure to remit on time draws a 10 percent penalty for the original delinquency, another 10 percent if delinquency continues past 30 more days, a 25 percent penalty on top of both for fraud, and interest of one-half of one percent per month on the unpaid tax (§ 3.32.080).

Short-term rental owners must also maintain records for the Tax Administrator's inspection for three years under § 5.86.110, and a failure to register or file a return, or filing a false return, is a misdemeanor under § 3.32.170.