Simi Valley Short Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Simi Valley and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can, and you can finally do it with the city's blessing instead of hoping nobody files a complaint. On June 8, 2026 the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1370, which writes short-term rentals into the zoning code of this Ventura County city as a permitted use in every residential district. Before that, Simi Valley had no short-term rental law at all. That sounds permissive, though it never was, because the Development Code says a land use it doesn't list isn't allowed, and short-term rentals were never listed.

The catch is that the permit is no formality. Every operator needs an annual city permit, and the Building Official has to inspect the property before the first one is issued and again before every renewal. Then there's the rest of it: $500,000 of liability insurance, a nuisance response plan mailed to every neighbor within 200 feet if the stay is un-hosted, a noise monitor mounted outside the building, and a 10% transient occupancy tax that no platform collects for you. One person gets one permit, apartments are excluded outright, and everyone operating needs a valid permit by January 1, 2027.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly: what the ordinance requires in 2026, what the permit looks like it will cost, the documents you'll assemble, the tax you remit yourself, how hard the city plans to push, and who to call when something goes sideways. Every figure below comes from Simi Valley's own ordinance text, staff reports and municipal code, read in July 2026, and where something is still moving I've said so. Before you buy anything on the strength of a nightly rate, run the property through BNBCalc first.

What are short term rental (Airbnb, VRBO) regulations in Simi Valley, California?

Two pieces of the municipal code do the work here, and separating them explains why the answer flipped this year.

The first is the Development Code, and it's why the old answer was no. Section 9-22.030(A)(1) provides that land uses "not specifically listed" in the zoning chapters "are not allowed," and short-term rentals appeared nowhere in the residential tables.

The city said so itself. In its November 18, 2024 memorandum to the City Council, staff wrote that "the City does not define a STR, nor regulate short-term rentals," while counting 30 to 50 units listed online anyway. Ten years of that had produced only a handful of complaints, so nothing forced the issue until late 2024.

The second piece is Ordinance No. 1370, and it does three jobs at once. It adds a short-term rental row to Table 2-2 in section 9-24.030, marked P for permitted across all nine residential and open-space districts. It writes a definition into section 9-80.020. And it bolts a new Chapter 46 onto Title 5, where the permit machinery lives.

That "P" matters, by the way. It means no conditional use permit hearing in front of the Planning Commission, although permitted uses still run through a zoning clearance and whatever building permits the work requires.

The definition decides whether you're in the regime at all, so read it closely. A short-term rental is occupancy of a dwelling unit, or part of one, that is not a hotel or motel, for 30 consecutive calendar days or less, counting any fraction of a day as a full day, in exchange for money, goods or services. Garages, unconditioned storage, vacant land and temporary structures are carved out, which quietly kills the converted-shed listing. Cross 30 days and you're a landlord under ordinary tenancy law instead.

Two versions exist under the ordinance, and the difference costs you real work:

• Hosted. The owner stays on site, specifically between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., while guests rent a portion of the dwelling or a conditioned accessory structure that state law allows.
• Un-hosted. The owner is off site and the guest has the property. This is the version that triggers the 200-foot neighbor mailing, so budget time for it.

Apartments are the one housing type shut out completely. Note (7) to the amended table excludes apartments as defined in the code, then says the exclusion "does not apply to dwelling units held in separate ownership interest, including without limitation, townhouse or condominium dwelling units." A condo you own outright can be permitted. A unit in an apartment complex cannot.

One date trips people up. Ordinance No. 1370 takes effect "at 12:01 a.m. on the thirty-first (31st) day after its passage," which lands in July 2026. Yet the May 11, 2026 staff report defers implementation to January 1, 2027, the date by which operators must hold a valid permit to avoid enforcement. Keep in mind that the gap is a runway for building the permitting system, not a legal holiday.

Starting a Short Term Rental Business in Simi Valley

January 1, 2027 is the date to plan backwards from, because the city already knows roughly who it's looking for. Staff told the Council that approximately 100 short-term rentals operate in Simi Valley, then modeled the program's revenue on about 70 of them getting permits. The rest are expected to fold, sell or go quiet, which tells you how the city reads its own rules.

The market is small, and this is no beach town. The November 2024 study counted 12 entire-home listings averaging $322.50 a night across an estimated 96 nights a year, plus 28 room-only listings at $130.05 across 144 nights. Those came from a 2024 sweep of the platforms, so treat them as a shape, not a forecast.

Demand has a particular character here. Six hotels run around 70% occupancy, and the city's own analysis calls Simi Valley "not a destination economy." Guests turn up for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, for film work, for medical treatment nearby, and for temporary job postings. Nobody is flying in for the weekend.

Several categories are ruled out before you start, and each is a mandatory denial rather than a judgment call:

• Apartments, per the zoning table note.
• Accessory dwelling units and junior ADUs where California law requires terms longer than 30 days. Government Code section 66323(e) does exactly that for ADUs created under that section, so a ministerially approved ADU is out even though the city would otherwise allow one.
• Unconditioned space, temporary structures, vacant land, recreational vehicles and campsites.
• Any property carrying uncorrected violations, since the pre-permit inspection has to come back clean.
• Anyone who already holds a Simi Valley short-term rental permit.

That last rule reshapes the investor math. There's no cap on how many permits the city will issue in total, so this isn't a lottery, and yet nobody gets to run a portfolio of five. Forming a second entity doesn't help, because the ordinance counts legal entities the same way it counts people.

Neither does buying one. A permit is issued to the named person, cannot be transferred and does not run with the land. Buying a permitted short-term rental buys you a house, not a business.

If you're weighing Simi Valley against somewhere with a deeper visitor base, run that comparison properly rather than by feel. BNBCalc Markets shows revenue, occupancy and nightly rates at the neighborhood level, which is the only honest way to price a market where 40 listings set the picture.

Short Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Simi Valley

Assuming the numbers still work, only one permit is ever coming your way, so it's worth getting the application right the first time. Chapter 5-46 hands administration to the Administrative Services Department, with the Administrative Services Director as the decision maker. That's a change of address for anyone used to calling Planning about land use.

The application is a written form signed under penalty of perjury, filed with a nonrefundable fee set by resolution of the City Council. The city's cost study puts the true cost of issuing one permit at $741.14: $601.85 of staff time across a planner, a building inspector and an office assistant, plus roughly $139 of vendor cost. Going through the city's agendas as of July 2026, I couldn't find an adopted fee resolution, so treat $741.14 as the number the city is aiming at rather than a fee you can quote at the counter.

Then comes the requirement most likely to catch an older house out, added by the Council at the May 11 first reading. Before a permit is issued and again before every renewal, the Building Official or a designee must inspect the dwelling and site against building, fire, access, health and safety regulations. No permit issues or renews until every identified violation is corrected.

That's an annual inspection of your rental, forever. Smoke alarms, pool fencing, unpermitted additions and garage conversions all surface here.

The Director must deny an application on any of these findings:

• The chapter's requirements weren't met, whether that's an incomplete application, missing information or an unpaid fee.
• The unit is one California law ties to terms longer than 30 days, or it's unconditioned space, a temporary structure, vacant land, a recreational vehicle or a campsite.
• The applicant made a false, misleading or fraudulent statement, or omitted a material fact.
• The rental would be materially detrimental to public health or safety, or would create a public nuisance, and conditions can't mitigate it.

A denial locks you out for a year. A revocation locks you out for two. The city also won't process an application while an enforcement action is pending against the property or the applicant, so clear any open code case before you file.

Once granted, a permit runs to December 31 of the year it was issued, then renews on a straight calendar year. Renewal is never automatic. You file at least 30 days before expiry, under penalty of perjury again, and nothing renews unless every city tax you owe is paid in full. File on time and the old permit stays alive until the city decides.

Appeals run on a tight clock. You get 15 calendar days from service of the decision to file a written appeal with the City Clerk, plus the appeal fee, and an independent hearing officer then hears it fresh. The city carries the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, and the final written decision lands within 15 days of the hearing closing. A timely appeal stays the Director's decision meanwhile, which matters if you're mid-season.

Required Documents for Simi Valley Short Term Rentals

Appeals are the expensive way to fix a problem, though, and that application fee doesn't come back either. Assemble the file before you send it. Section 5-46.06(d) sets a floor of five items, and the city won't deem an application complete until all of them are in:

• The address of the short-term rental, which has to be a real conditioned dwelling unit.
• A nuisance response plan in the form the city requires.
• A transient occupancy registration certificate issued under section 3-5.305. Register with the Tax Collector first, because the certificate is an input to the application rather than something that follows it.
• For an un-hosted rental, a written declaration that within five days of the permit issuing, every owner and occupant within 200 feet will be notified in writing and given the approved nuisance response plan, the Good Neighbor Policy and city contact details.
• Proof of liability insurance of not less than $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage arising from the rental.

That last one deserves a phone call rather than a glance. Ordinary homeowners coverage usually excludes commercial use, so do check the policy language with your broker instead of assuming a platform's host protection satisfies a city ordinance.

People underestimate the nuisance response plan, since it reads less like a form than an operating manual the city holds you to. It carries your mailing address and phone number, plus the name, address and telephone number of whoever answers a complaint, and a return call to the complainant within 30 minutes counts as prompt. No more than three people may be designated, and only one may be on duty in any given hour, day or week, so a rotating cast of cleaners doesn't qualify. The plan also records how you'll document responses, how many off-street spaces and bedrooms the property has, and the maximum overnight occupancy you're asking for.

Commit that default to memory: two adults and two children up to 12 years of age per bedroom. Going above it takes documentation of unusual size or layout, approved through the permit process rather than argued after a complaint.

A few obligations attach to the listing rather than the file. Every advertisement carries the permit number in the form "City of Simi Valley Permit No. ____", printed in the same size type as the largest type in the main body of the ad, which rules out a discreet line in the house rules. Every rental agreement includes twelve specified disclosures, and those terms get posted inside the unit alongside the response plan.

Don't forget the check-in paperwork either. Before occupancy you collect the primary adult occupant's name, address and driver's license number or passport copy, plus a signed acknowledgment that they're responsible for everyone in the house.

Simi Valley Short Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you get through all of that and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to deal with. The structure is simpler than most California cities, mind you, because the state adds nothing of its own. California levies no state occupancy tax; Revenue and Taxation Code section 7280 merely authorizes cities and counties to tax stays of 30 days or less. Ventura County's transient tax reaches unincorporated areas, not incorporated cities, so Simi Valley's rate is the whole local story.

Charge	Rate	Who collects and remits it
Transient occupancy tax	10% of rent	You collect from the guest and remit to the City of Simi Valley
Business tax certificate	Set by City Council resolution (the city modeled $115 plus a gross receipts tax)	You, to the City of Simi Valley
Tourism Marketing District assessment	2% of room revenue	Assessed lodging businesses in the district, and not collected from short-term rentals as of July 2026
California income tax	Ordinary rates on net rental profit	You, to the Franchise Tax Board

The occupancy tax is the one that moves real money. Section 3-5.303 sets it at 10% of the rent charged, payable by the guest to you at the time rent is paid, and it catches anyone occupying for 30 consecutive calendar days or less. You register with the Tax Collector within 30 days of commencing business, receive the certificate and post it on the premises. Returns and payment then fall due on or before the last day of the month following each calendar quarter, and the ordinance stacks a second quarterly filing on top of that, due by the 15th, reporting nights rented, nightly rates and tax owed.

Here is the part that surprises hosts arriving from other markets. No platform collects this for you. Airbnb publishes the California jurisdictions where it collects and remits occupancy tax, and neither Simi Valley nor Ventura County appears on it as of July 2026. Every dollar of the 10% is yours to collect and remit. Miss the deadline and it compounds, because section 3-5.307 adds a 10% penalty, another 10% if you're still delinquent 30 days later, 25% for fraudulent nonpayment, and interest of half a percent a month until it clears.

A business tax certificate is the second layer, and Ordinance No. 1370 is what pulls you into it. The code used to exempt residential rentals broadly; the amended section 3-1.116 now exempts only rentals "for a period of 31 days or longer." Amounts sit in a council resolution rather than the code, so ask Administrative Services for the current schedule.

The 2% Tourism Marketing District assessment is the layer you probably escape. It falls on assessed lodging businesses inside the district's benefit zone, and the city's November 2024 report says the Visit Simi Valley assessment "is not collected for STRs." Ordinance No. 1370 left that chapter alone, though it's worth confirming your own status rather than assuming either way.

Then there's the change coming in November. On June 8, 2026 the Council took up resolutions placing a proposition on the November 3, 2026 ballot that would raise the occupancy tax from 10% to 12%, the first adjustment in more than 30 years and worth roughly $400,000 a year. Polling for the city put support at 63% before arguments and 61% after, and a simple majority carries it. Model 12% for 2027, and treat 10% as the floor.

One statewide item stays on your list either way. California runs a tourism assessment on travel and tourism businesses under the Tourism Marketing Act of 1995, self-reported to the California Office of Tourism rather than collected by any platform, and revenue from stays of 31 or more continuous days isn't assessable. The accommodations rate lives in the Office's filing instructions, whose currency I couldn't confirm this month, so call 916.322.1266 for the current-year figure. Net profit is then ordinary income to the Franchise Tax Board.

California wide Short Term Rental Rules

Those local layers sit inside a state framework that does less than most people expect. California issues no statewide short-term rental license, runs no registry, and levies no occupancy tax of its own, which is why every number a host cares about lives in a city ordinance. CalGold is the state's lookup for which local permits apply, and our California short-term rental regulation guide covers the statewide picture.

What the state does do is fence in what a city may impose. Four of those fences shape Simi Valley's ordinance directly.

The first is a fine ceiling. Government Code section 36900(d) caps fines for violating a short-term rental ordinance at $1,500 for a first violation, $3,000 for a second within a year, and $5,000 for each additional one, and those elevated amounts apply only to infractions that threaten public health or safety. Subdivision (e) then requires a hardship waiver process for anyone who fixed the problem in good faith. Simi Valley's staff report cites the same caps when it estimates recovery.

The second is the accessory dwelling unit rule already mentioned, which is state law reaching straight into the city's denial list.

The third is homeowners associations, and it catches people out. Civil Code section 4741(c) lets a common interest development prohibit "transient or short-term rental of a separate interest ... for a period of 30 days or less" even though it can't ban longer rentals. Plenty of Simi Valley tracts sit under an association, so read the CC&Rs before you spend a dollar on the permit. A city permit doesn't override your HOA, and the city says openly that it doesn't intervene in association disputes.

The fourth is the newest, and Simi Valley opted into it deliberately. The Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, Government Code section 50990 and following, took effect January 1, 2026 and applies only where a local agency adopts an ordinance making it applicable. Section 5-46.18 does precisely that. Platforms therefore have to report each rental's physical address on request, carry your permit number in the listing, and hold a valid Simi Valley business tax certificate to facilitate any booking here.

One more state rule reaches your listing whatever the city does. Business and Professions Code section 17568.6 has required advertised nightly rates to include every mandatory fee except government taxes since July 1, 2024, so the cleaning fee sits inside the headline price.

And one layer you can ignore, at least. The Coastal Act oversight that tangles short-term rental rules in beach cities runs through Local Coastal Programs inside the coastal zone, and Simi Valley sits inland behind the Santa Susana Mountains. For a sense of how differently this plays elsewhere in California, the Sonoma County short-term rental rules and the San Mateo County short-term rental rules make useful contrasts, one a wine-country tourism market and the other a Bay Area commuter belt.

Does Simi Valley strictly enforce STR rules?

State law caps what the city can fine you, yet it says nothing about how hard the city will look. Honestly, nobody can answer that from experience yet, since the permit program doesn't start until 2027. What the design tells you, though, is that this city intends to find people.

Simi Valley has contracted with HdL Companies, which already runs its business tax program, to handle the short-term rental side. HdL scans hosting platforms in real time, compares active listings against permit records, and flags anyone operating without one. It does the first-contact outreach, then refers whatever it can't resolve to Code Enforcement.

Staff costed that compliance component at $13,975 in year one and $9,750 a year afterwards, plus a $2,500 setup fee. A Code Enforcement notice of violation runs roughly $360 a case, rising to about $8,000 where the City Attorney takes it to full legal action. That's a city buying detection rather than waiting for the phone to ring.

The facilitator reporting adopted from state law works from the other direction. Platforms have to hand over addresses on request and carry your permit number in the listing, so an unpermitted listing is visible from two sides at once.

Then there's the noise monitor, the quietly aggressive part of this ordinance. Every permittee installs and continuously operates an exterior sound level meter meeting American National Standards specifications. The ordinance bars it from having a camera, recording conversations or storing personal data, so it isn't surveillance of your guests. It's a permanent instrument measuring compliance with the noise ordinance at your address.

Enforcement scale, on the other hand, is tiny. From 2025 through April 2026 the city logged 10 short-term rental complaints across five addresses, with local reporting noting that half of last year's traced to a single property. Noise, parking and trash run through the existing channels: Code Enforcement during business hours, the Police Department after them.

The penalty stack is where casual non-compliance stops being cheap. A violation of Chapter 5-46 is unlawful and declared a public nuisance, punishable criminally or administratively under Title 1, and the City Attorney may sue to abate it. A misdemeanor carries up to $1,000 and six months in county jail, while infractions run $100, $200 and $500 for a first, second and third violation in a year.

Read the next line carefully, because it's the one that compounds: each and every day a violation is maintained is a separate offense. That's not a one-time fine, and for someone running a full season unpermitted it's exactly where the damage lands.

For a permitted host the sharper risk isn't money at all. Repeated operational violations can suspend or revoke the permit, revocation bars you from reapplying for two years, and the renewal inspection gives the city a scheduled look at the property every single year.

Be aware, too, that the political ground under this program is soft. The city's own Planning Commission recommended a citywide ban on March 4, 2026, and all four Neighborhood Councils voted against allowing short-term rentals in January. My read is that the ordinance is on probation, and a bad first year invites the ban the Council narrowly declined to adopt.

How to Start a Short Term Rental Business in Simi Valley

Assuming that risk still reads acceptable to you, the order below matters more than it looks. Working through it out of sequence is how people spend a nonrefundable fee to learn something they could have checked for free.

1. Confirm the property type qualifies. Not an apartment, not an ADU that state law ties to 30-plus-day rentals, not unconditioned space. Then read your CC&Rs, since an HOA can ban short-term rentals whatever your city permit says.
2. Clear any open code case first. The city won't process an application while enforcement is pending, and the pre-permit inspection has to come back clean.
3. Get the property inspection-ready. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, pool fencing, permitted structures only, and egress a Building Official will sign off on. Unpermitted garage conversions are the classic failure.
4. Register for transient occupancy tax. Apply to the Tax Collector for the certificate under section 3-5.305, since it's an attachment to the permit application rather than a follow-up step.
5. Write the nuisance response plan. Name up to three responders, one on duty at a time, with a real 30-minute call-back capability. Decide your requested occupancy now and gather the evidence for anything above the default.
6. Buy the insurance. $500,000 per occurrence minimum, on a policy that contemplates short-term rental use.
7. File the application and pay the fee. Signed under penalty of perjury, with the address, the plan, the tax certificate, the insurance proof and, for un-hosted rentals, the 200-foot notification declaration.
8. Do the neighbor mailing on time. Un-hosted permittees have five days from issuance to post the response plan and Good Neighbor Guidelines to every property within 200 feet, and to prove it to the city.
9. Set up operations on day one. Permit number in every listing at the required type size, the twelve disclosures in the rental agreement and posted inside, the noise monitor running, off-street parking reserved, and no parties.
10. Diarize the paperwork. Quarterly reports to the Director by the 15th, quarterly tax returns by the last day of the following month, annual confirmation of compliance, and a renewal at least 30 days before December 31 with all city taxes paid.

Who to contact in Simi Valley about Short Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever of those steps you get stuck on, four phone numbers cover almost everything, spread across three departments. All of them sit at Simi Valley City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley, CA 93063, open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., main line (805) 583-6700.

Permits, business tax and transient occupancy tax

The Administrative Services Department administers Chapter 5-46, and its Customer Services division already processes occupancy tax and business tax receipts. Start here for the permit, the fee schedule, the registration certificate and quarterly filings.

• Phone: (805) 583-6736
• Email: [email protected]
• Director: Carolyn Johnson

Zoning, land use and the Development Code

The Planning Division of the Department of Environmental Services owns Table 2-2, zoning clearances and any question about what your parcel's district allows.

• Phone: (805) 583-6769
• Department email: [email protected]
• Environmental Services Director: Stratis Perros

The pre-permit and renewal inspection

Building & Safety, in the same department, performs the inspection that has to clear before a permit issues or renews.

• Phone: (805) 583-6723

Complaints, and what a neighbor would dial about you

Code Enforcement takes nuisance and property complaints during business hours, with the Police Department covering after-hours calls. Worth knowing in both directions, since this is the line that builds the record behind a suspension.

• Phone: (805) 583-6753, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Fax: (805) 583-7949
• Mail or in person: Department of Environmental Services, Code Enforcement Section, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley, CA 93063
• Online: the Code Enforcement Complaint Form on the city's website

One detail cuts both ways. The city cannot accept anonymous complaints, so a complainant gives their name, address and phone number. That deters the casual grudge call. It also means anyone who does complain is on the record and likely to follow up.

What do Airbnb hosts in Simi Valley on Reddit and Bigger Pockets think about local regulations?

Those complaint lines are why the ordinance took two years to write, because the argument in Simi Valley was never really about hosts. It was neighbors against neighbors. I haven't found an active Simi Valley host community on Reddit or BiggerPockets worth quoting, so what follows is my read of the city's own hearing record and archived local reporting rather than a forum survey.

The split is unusual, and the numbers point in opposite directions depending on who you ask. A True North Research survey of 670 registered voters, commissioned by the city in April 2026, found 70% saying short-term rentals should be allowed, rising to 72% after respondents heard arguments both ways, with 24% opposed throughout.

Every restriction tested drew heavy support, mind you. 85% wanted a building, fire and safety inspection, 82% wanted permits permanently revoked after repeat violations, and 67% wanted a cap on how many are allowed in one neighborhood.

The engaged minority went the other way, hard. All four Neighborhood Council executive boards voted against the ordinance in January 2026 and three recommended an outright ban, citing enforcement costs, parking, turnover and corporate ownership. A petition carrying more than 430 signatures asked for a ban. At one Neighborhood Council meeting eight residents spoke against and one spoke for.

Host-side sentiment turns up mostly in public comment, where it clusters on use case rather than yield. Residents told the Council that these houses shelter families in town for medical treatment, people displaced by disasters, and workers on temporary assignment, with one describing operators as "local families who care about Simi Valley" rather than absentee landlords. Councilmember Joseph Ayala framed the vote as the end of an open-door period, saying the ordinance "creates more barriers to entry, not fewer." That's a fair description of what changed.

Two things are worth carrying away. Hosts already operating here go from zero compliance cost to an annual permit, an annual inspection and quarterly filings, and the city expects roughly 30 of the current 100 to disappear rather than absorb that. Remember, too, that the politics which produced a ban recommendation in March didn't evaporate in June. A program netting about $163,000 a year isn't lucrative enough to buy much patience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Simi Valley in 2026?

Yes. On June 8, 2026 the Simi Valley City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1370, which makes short-term rentals a permitted use in every residential and open-space zoning district and adds Chapter 5-46 to the municipal code. Before that the city had no short-term rental law, and because the Development Code disallows land uses it doesn't list, short-term rentals had no legal footing. Operators must hold a valid city permit by January 1, 2027.

How much does a Simi Valley short-term rental permit cost?

The ordinance says the application fee is set by resolution of the City Council, and no fee resolution had been published as of July 2026. The city's own cost study calculates $741.14 to issue one permit, made up of $601.85 in staff time plus about $139 of third-party vendor cost, and that figure is what the fee is expected to recover. A renewal fee, also set by resolution, applies annually. The fee is nonrefundable whether or not the permit is granted.

What tax do you pay on a short-term rental in Simi Valley?

Simi Valley charges a 10% transient occupancy tax on stays of 30 consecutive days or less, under municipal code section 3-5.303. You collect it from the guest, register with the Tax Collector within 30 days of starting, and file quarterly returns by the last day of the month after each quarter. No booking platform collects it for you, since Simi Valley does not appear on Airbnb's California collection list. A November 3, 2026 ballot measure would raise the rate to 12%.

Can you rent out an apartment or an ADU as a short-term rental in Simi Valley?

Apartments are excluded outright by the zoning table that Ordinance No. 1370 amended, though condominiums and townhouses held in separate ownership are eligible. Accessory dwelling units and junior ADUs are a mandatory denial where California law requires rentals longer than 30 days, which covers ADUs created under Government Code section 66323. Unconditioned space, temporary structures, vacant land, recreational vehicles and campsites are also ineligible.

How many short-term rental permits can one person hold in Simi Valley?

One. A person or legal entity may hold only one Simi Valley short-term rental permit at a time, citywide, and forming a second company does not get around it because the ordinance counts entities the same way it counts individuals. The permit is issued to the named applicant, cannot be transferred, and does not run with the land, so buying a permitted property does not transfer the permit. There is no cap on the total number of permits the city issues.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.