Can you rent your ADU on Airbnb? California short-term rental rules by city

California state law does NOT prohibit renting an ADU as a short-term rental (Airbnb, VRBO, stays under 30 days). However, state ADU law explicitly preserves the right of cities and counties to regulate short-term rentals through their own ordinances. The result: a fragmented patchwork where the same ADU is fully Airbnb-legal in one city and effectively banned in the next.

Los Angeles — Home-Sharing Ordinance

Under LA's Home-Sharing Ordinance, short-term rentals are restricted to the operator's primary residence (defined as 6+ months/year). A standalone ADU rented purely as a short-term rental is generally NOT permitted in the City of Los Angeles. Hosts must register, pay TOT, and stay within a 120-night annual cap unless they obtain an Extended Home-Sharing approval. JADUs are explicitly excluded from short-term rental use.

Unincorporated LA County, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, and Burbank each have separate ordinances — check the local code, not the LA City rule.

Unincorporated LA County

For parcels in unincorporated county territory, the county — not a city — writes the short-term rental rule, and the applicable standards are adopted in the County Code. Confirm the current requirements with LA County Regional Planning before you underwrite nightly income, because county territory and city territory can sit on opposite sides of the same street.

Cities have their own ordinances

West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank, Glendale, Culver City, Beverly Hills and the beach cities each adopt their own short-term rental ordinance, registration process and Transient Occupancy Tax rules. They differ on the points that matter most to an ADU pro-forma: whether the host must live on site, whether a detached unit qualifies at all, whether there is an annual night cap, and whether registration is currently open.

Coastal-zone parcels add a second layer: the California Coastal Commission has historically treated short-term rental bans in the coastal zone as a matter requiring a Local Coastal Program amendment, so a coastal city's rule can be in flux.

• —Check the ordinance text for your exact address, not the city you live near.
• —Confirm whether registration is open and what the renewal cycle is.
• —Ask whether an ADU or JADU is eligible at all under that ordinance.
• —Budget for Transient Occupancy Tax collection and remittance.

For the actual permit and planning office in your city, use the California Permit Directory.

Why this matters more than people think

Many ADU pro-formas assume nightly-rental income well above long-term rent. Across much of Greater Los Angeles that income is restricted or outright unavailable for a standalone unit, so a safer underwriting model uses long-term rental benchmarks — see LA ADU rent data.

Tax considerations

Where short-term rental is permitted it generally carries a Transient Occupancy Tax obligation set by the local jurisdiction, collected from the guest and remitted by the host. Long-term rentals don't trigger TOT but follow different income tax treatment. Property tax reassessment from building the ADU itself is covered in our property tax guide.