Palm Springs Short-Term Rental Regulations: A 2026 Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Palm Springs and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you're allowed to, and that question was settled here a long time ago. Voters were asked in June 2018 to ban vacation rentals in single-family neighborhoods, and they rejected it by roughly two to one on the early count. So this desert city in Riverside County, California licenses short-term rentals instead of fighting them, and it has run a formal program since 2017.

The catch is that Palm Springs regulates them harder than almost anywhere else in the Coachella Valley. Only single-family homes qualify, you get one certificate per person, there's a hard ceiling on how many separate bookings you can take in a calendar year, and whole neighborhoods are closed to new applicants once vacation rentals pass 20% of the housing there. The annual fee climbed to $1,046 on December 1, 2025, and it doesn't come back if you're denied.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly in 2026: what Chapter 5.25 requires, what the certificate costs, the contract cap the council changed last November, the two charges you collect from every guest, how hard the city pushes on enforcement, and who to call when something goes sideways. Every figure below comes from the City of Palm Springs' own ordinances, forms and pages, checked in July 2026, and where something is still moving I've said so. Before you buy anything out here on the strength of a nightly rate, run the property through BNBCalc first.

What are Short-Term Rental (Airbnb, VRBO) Regulations in Palm Springs, California?

Chapter 5.25 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code does nearly all of the work, and three ordinances built it. Ordinance No. 2118 sets out that history in its own recitals: Ordinance No. 1918 created the modern program on March 15, 2017, and Ordinance No. 2075 amended and restated the chapter on November 28, 2022.

The city's vacation rentals page sums up what 2075 settled. Vacation rentals and homesharing are an ancillary and secondary use of a home, they're limited to single-family dwellings and barred in apartments, and a registration certificate is a privilege and not a right. Ordinance 2118 then arrived on November 12, 2025 and changed the one number most owners care about.

Start with what counts. The city's vacation rental FAQ defines a vacation rental as a single-family dwelling, or any portion of one, occupied for 28 consecutive days or less without the owner present. Stays of 29 days or more aren't short-term at all and fall outside the ordinance completely. A homeshare is the other shape: you're physically there for the whole stay. Apartments and multi-unit buildings are out entirely, and the city says so bluntly about triplexes, which can only be rented for 29 days or longer.

Now the contract cap, because this is where 2024-era advice goes wrong. A "contract" isn't a night or a guest. Ordinance 2118 defines it as any occupancy by someone other than the owner while the owner isn't present, whether or not anyone paid and whether or not there's a written agreement. The limit then depends on a single date:

• New permittees, meaning a complete application filed after October 17, 2022, get 26 contracts per calendar year, prorated in the first year.
• Existing permittees, meaning a certificate issued or a complete application filed on or before October 17, 2022, get 32 contracts, plus up to four more if each of those falls entirely inside the third quarter.
• Junior certificate holders get six contracts a year, at a lower fee.
• Homeshares have no annual contract limit at all, since you're living there.

Under Ordinance 2075, that legacy 36 was written to drop automatically to 26 on January 1, 2026. Ordinance 2118 deleted the drop, so older permits keep 32 plus four indefinitely. Owners can also file a list of up to five friends or family who may stay without the owner present and without burning a contract, though the names are fixed at application or renewal and can't be swapped around mid-year.

The other constraint is geographic, and it's the one that decides whether a purchase works at all. Ordinance 2075 capped vacation rental certificates at 20% of the residential units in each Organized Neighborhood, and the city's vacation rental density page updates the counts weekly. Certificates already issued are grandfathered even where a neighborhood sits above the line, but a new application in a capped neighborhood gets returned, and the only route in is a waiting list run on a "first in time, first in right" basis.

Going through the city's neighborhood table dated November 6, 2025, four neighborhoods sat over the cap. Racquet Club Estates led at 34.45%, with 185 vacation rentals across 537 homes, and Sunmor followed at 26.43%, El Rancho Vista Estates at 25.89% and Desert Park Estates at 21.72%. Citywide the figure was far lower, 2,663 registered vacation rentals against 35,159 residential units, or 7.57%, with 103 owners waiting on lists and 33 of those queued for Racquet Club Estates alone.

One layer you don't have to worry about is the county. Riverside County runs its own short-term rental program, yet its own planning page says a certificate is required for rentals "in the unincorporated area of the County of Riverside," so inside Palm Springs city limits the city ordinance is the whole regime.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Palm Springs

That neighborhood table is where a Palm Springs purchase gets decided, and it's the first thing to open, well before you talk to a lender. Do check the address against the density page and the city's neighborhood map before you write an offer, because a home in Racquet Club Estates or Sunmor can't get a new vacation rental certificate today at any price.

Unfortunately for anyone planning a portfolio, the ownership rules end that idea on the first page. The city's FAQ allows only one vacation rental per natural person, partnership, limited liability partnership, or limited liability company made up solely of natural persons numbering no more than four, or a family trust. Corporations and other business entities cannot hold a certificate at all, and spouses or partners are treated as owning jointly. One household, one certificate.

Certificates also don't travel with the house. Buying a home that operates as a vacation rental gets you the house without the permit. The seller has to close their certificate and cancel future bookings, and you apply as a new applicant with a file-stamped grant deed once escrow closes. No bookings may occur until your own certificate is issued, and the city puts processing at 30 to 90 days depending on volume. Keep that gap in mind when you model your first season, because a March close can easily mean no legal revenue until summer.

A few property types carry extra conditions worth knowing before you commit:

• Estate Homes, meaning a single-family dwelling with five or more bedrooms, need a separate addendum and a one-time Land Use Permit costing $647. Even then, a certificate covers only five or six bedrooms no matter how many the house actually has.
• Homes inside an HOA need a letter from the HOA board or management company confirming that a vacation rental doesn't violate the CC&Rs, at application and again at every renewal. Copies of the CC&Rs themselves won't do.
• Homes in capped neighborhoods can still apply for a Junior certificate, which is limited to six contracts a year and is exempt from the neighborhood percentage caps.

Assuming the property clears all of that and you're able to get a certificate, the economics that remain are still narrower than the Airbnb dashboards suggest. Twenty-six contracts a year is not twenty-six weeks of occupancy unless every booking is long, which is why the operators who do well here chase week-long stays instead of weekends.

Compared with much of California, mind you, that's a generous regime. Our California statewide guide covers how differently the rest of the state handles this, and the Sonoma County guide makes a useful contrast, since wine country runs caps of its own.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirements in Palm Springs

That one-certificate rule is also why the paperwork here gets personal. A Palm Springs certificate attaches to you and not to the house, and you pay for it again every single year. On September 25, 2025 the council adopted Resolution No. 25344, and the fees it set took effect on December 1, 2025. As of July 2026 a vacation rental certificate costs $1,046, new or renewal, with a Junior certificate at $523 and a homeshare at $261. The Estate Home land use permit adds $647, a transfer costs $222, and an appeal costs $1,324. Add a one-time $25 transient occupancy tax permit fee on top. All of it is non-refundable, which is exactly why the eligibility checks come first.

Applications and renewals run through the city's GovOS portal at palmspringsca.munirevs.com, and you start by submitting a request form so staff can issue an account code and activation code. The owner has to sign, since the owner carries responsibility for compliance, and no advertising or operating may happen until the department notifies you in writing. Advertising early is itself a violation, so don't be tempted to list "pending permit" and take deposits.

Every certificate is annual, and renewal isn't a formality. A renewal repeats the fee, the insurance evidence, the HOA letter where one applies, and the safety inspection. That inspection is scheduled by the Department of Special Program Compliance at both new application and renewal, with the initial visit and one follow-up free each year, though a follow-up that needs Building or Fire staff gets billed at the current fee schedule. Someone has to be at the property while it happens.

What the inspector checks is spelled out on the city's safety inspection form, and the bedroom definition catches people out most often. A bedroom has to be at least 120 square feet, have four walls to the ceiling with a window on an exterior wall, and contain a built-in closet, so the den you've been advertising as a fourth bedroom may not count. Homes built after 1976 need an egress window or door in every bedroom.

Beyond that, the inspector wants smoke alarms in each bedroom, the hallway and the top of the stairs, plus at least one wall or ceiling mounted carbon monoxide alarm. A 2A-10BC fire extinguisher has to sit within 20 feet of any cooking appliance and be less than six years old. Address numbers must be four inches tall and visible from the street, and no room used for sleeping may have security bars.

Pools bring their own set: a posted warning sign, a telescoping rescue pole, exit alarms on doors leading to the pool mounted no lower than 60 inches, and side gates that self-close and latch at 54 inches or higher. Separately, a licensed C-10, C-53 or D-35 contractor has to certify the pool and spa equipment, with the invoice attached, and that certification is good for five years or until the property changes hands.

Getting the certificate is one thing, and keeping it is another, because Chapter 5.25 attaches a long set of operating duties to it:

• Submit a contract summary before every stay. It goes in through your property account and cannot be corrected after the first day of the stay. Remember that if code compliance answers a nuisance call and finds no contract summary on file, the FAQ puts the exposure at a $2,500 citation plus a six-month suspension.
• Respect the occupancy table. Two overnight guests per bedroom, four extra daytime guests, and two children aged 12 and under on top of the overnight count.
• Park one car per bedroom, without blocking driveways, mailboxes or traffic.
• Keep a local contact available 24 hours a day who can be at the property in person within 30 minutes. The city's own example is that a contact in Los Angeles doesn't qualify.
• Put your six-digit account number in every advertisement, in the property description or another prominent spot.
• Post the paperwork. Good Neighbor Brochure inside the front door and the main backyard door, registration certificate by the front door, and a Statement of Rules and Regulations signed by every guest and kept for four years.
• No outdoor amplified music, ever, and no repairs, yard work or pool maintenance between 5pm Friday and 8am Monday except in an emergency.
• Upgrade to walk-up trash service with Palm Springs Disposal Service, and keep bins out of public view except on collection day between 5am and 8pm.
• File a closure form within seven days of selling or stopping, or risk a $500 fine.

Required Documents for Palm Springs Short-Term Rentals

Since none of those fees come back, it's worth getting the paperwork right the first time, and the packet is longer than the online form makes it look. The department wants all of this before it will process an application:

• The signed application, signed by the owner and not by an agent, confirming you've read Chapter 5.25.
• A file-stamped grant deed proving ownership, which new buyers can only supply after escrow closes.
• Evidence of insurance meeting the city's minimum limit, at application and at every renewal.
• The safety inspection request form, which is built into both the new and renewal applications.
• A pool compliance statement signed by a licensed C-10, C-53 or D-35 contractor, with the contractor's invoice attached, where the property has a pool or spa.
• An HOA letter from the board or management company stating that operating a vacation rental or homeshare doesn't violate the CC&Rs.
• Your friends and family list, if you want up to five named people to be able to stay without using a contract.
• A transient occupancy tax permit application and the one-time $25 fee.
• The Estate Home addendum and land use permit application, for any home with five or more bedrooms.

Liability Insurance

Insurance sits in that list, and Palm Springs is specific about it in a way many cities aren't. The FAQ requires the owner to carry a short-term rental policy or a personal liability policy for the complete term of the certificate, with a minimum limit of $500,000 per occurrence, and evidence has to be produced both at application and at each renewal. The city doesn't require that it be named as an additional insured, which saves you chasing your insurer for an endorsement naming the city.

Be aware that a standard homeowner's policy often isn't enough here. California requires hosting platforms to tell you as much: under Business and Professions Code § 22592, a platform must warn hosts that listing a property may violate their lease and that their insurance may not provide coverage for short-term rental use. Airbnb's own host protection sits on top of your policy instead of replacing it, so make sure you call your carrier and describe the actual use before you rely on either one. A denied claim on a $500,000 minimum doesn't dent a rental business. It ends one.

Palm Springs Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you're able to get through the paperwork and start hosting, there's still tax to deal with, and here you do the collecting yourself, because the platforms don't. Two charges ride on every short stay in Palm Springs, and two more can reach your profits from the state level.

Charge	Rate	Collected by
Transient occupancy tax	11.5%	City of Palm Springs, remitted monthly by the owner
Greater Palm Springs TBID assessment	1%	City of Palm Springs, passed through to the CVB
California Tourism Assessment	$1,950 per $1 million of assessable revenue	California Office of Tourism
State income tax on profit	varies	California Franchise Tax Board

The city's transient occupancy tax page puts the rate at "13.5% for Group Meeting hotels and 11.5% for all other hotels, Vacation Rentals, and Agencies," and notes those rates have been in effect since January 1, 2002 after voters authorized the increase in November 2001. Vacation rentals sit in the 11.5% band. The 1% Tourism Business Improvement District assessment has applied to vacation rentals and homeshares since July 1, 2021, on stays of less than 28 days. You pay it alongside the tax, though the city passes that money to the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau instead of keeping it. Guests therefore see 12.5% added on top of the rent.

Filing is monthly through the same GovOS portal, and it's monthly even in a month where nothing was booked, since a zero return is still due. Miss it and the city's penalty is 10% of the tax due or $50, whichever is greater, plus interest. Repeatedly failing to remit is worse than a money problem: under Ordinance 2075, failing to pay transient occupancy tax after written notice suspends the registration certificate for 12 months.

Now the part people assume wrongly. Airbnb does not collect this for you. Going through Airbnb's list of California jurisdictions where it collects and remits, there's no City of Palm Springs entry at all, and the Riverside County listing on that page covers unincorporated county areas only. So the 11.5% and the 1% are yours to collect from guests, report and pay. I couldn't confirm Vrbo's position for Palm Springs from any official source, so treat platform collection as something to verify in writing with each platform you use, not something to assume.

The state layer is smaller but real. Rental profit is ordinary income to the Franchise Tax Board, for residents on everything and for nonresidents on California property. And lodging revenue is subject to the statewide tourism assessment: the California Office of Tourism's filing instructions put accommodations at $1,950 per $1 million of travel and tourism revenue, with revenue from stays of 31 or more continuous days by the same person excluded. That document's own metadata is several years old and I couldn't open a newer schedule, so confirm the current rate and any small-business exemption before you file.

California Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

Those local rates exist because the state chose not to occupy the field. California has no statewide short-term rental permit, no statewide registry and no state occupancy tax, and Revenue and Taxation Code § 7280 simply authorizes any city or county to tax occupancy of 30 days or less with no cap on the rate. Everything a Palm Springs host cares about therefore lives in Chapter 5.25.

The state does draw a few lines around what a city may do, though, and three of them matter here.

Fines are capped. Under Government Code § 36900(d), penalties for violating a short-term rental ordinance are limited to $1,500 for a first violation, $3,000 for a second within a year, and $5,000 for further violations inside that year. The higher tiers are reserved for violations that threaten public health or safety, and a hardship waiver process has to exist. Palm Springs' headline $5,000 exposure for operating unregistered matches the top of that ladder.

Private rules can be stricter than public ones. Civil Code § 4741(c) lets a common interest development prohibit rentals of 30 days or less even though it can't ban longer tenancies, which is why the city insists on that HOA letter. And casitas are not the loophole they look like: Government Code § 66323(e) requires rentals of accessory dwelling units approved under that section to run longer than 30 days, and AB 1154 of 2025 extended the same floor to junior ADUs.

The newest piece is the one to watch this year. The Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, Government Code § 50990, took effect January 1, 2026, and it works on an opt-in basis. Where a local agency adopts an ordinance under it, platforms must report each rental's address and carry local license numbers and tax certification in their listings.

Palm Springs hadn't adopted one for most of the year, and then on June 25, 2026 the council introduced a first reading of an ordinance doing exactly that, according to The Palm Springs Post. It would force platforms to display city-issued permit numbers in every listing and hand over addresses, parcel numbers and listing URLs on request. A second reading is required before any of that binds, and as of my last check in July 2026 I couldn't confirm final adoption on the city's own pages, so treat it as something on the way and not a rule you're breaking today. Californian cities differ enormously in how far down this road they've gone, which our Placer County guide and San Mateo County guide both show from opposite ends of the state.

Does Palm Springs Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Palm Springs sits at the strict end of that range, and it enforces while the stay is still going. The city runs a dedicated vacation rental hotline on (760) 322-8383 that neighbors are told to call during a disturbance instead of afterwards, so a complaint puts a responder at the property that night. The city then asks that responder to check whether a contract summary exists for the stay, which is how a noise call turns into a paperwork citation.

There are no warnings first. The city's administrative citation page states plainly that pre-citation and courtesy notices are not given for vacation rental and homeshare violations. Citations are handled by an outside contractor, the Citation Processing Center, and you have 15 calendar days from the mailing date to appeal. On an ordinary citation you must pay the fine before you can appeal it, though there's no separate appeal fee. Where the city moves against the certificate itself, through suspension, revocation, denial or a charge of operating without one, the fine is stayed instead, but you pay the $1,324 appeal fee and file with the City Clerk.

The penalties themselves stack in a way that punishes carelessness as much as bad faith:

• Operating or advertising without a certificate exposes you to fines of up to $5,000 and permanent ineligibility for the program.
• A nuisance call with no contract summary on file draws a $2,500 citation and a six-month suspension.
• Failure to remit transient occupancy tax after written notice suspends the certificate for 12 months.
• A suspension of up to two years is available under municipal code section 5.25.090(b).
• An Estate Home that collects three citations in 24 months goes to the Planning Commission, which reviews the land use permit for modification or revocation under municipal code section 93.26.16(c).

The volume of citations has come down sharply, mind you, and that's the honest counterweight to the list above. The city's citation data table records 126 citations in the first seven months of 2025, against 187 across the same months of 2024 and 363 in 2018, when the program was young and the Measure C fight was live.

Registrations have drifted down too. The city's neighborhood table showed 2,663 registered vacation rentals in November 2025, and The Palm Springs Post reported the council hearing that the count had fallen from a June 2024 peak of 2,927 to 2,777 by October 2025. That same reporting had Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein saying that "between the ordinance and code compliance and the market self-monitoring, we've seen things have calmed down and improved significantly the last few years," which is the reasoning behind keeping the legacy 36-contract cap.

The weak spot in all of this is tax. At the June 2026 council meeting, Finance Director Kristopher Mooney put the city's audit capacity at 150 to 200 of the smaller rentals a year when it's fully staffed. In his words, that's a "minimum to five years to get through all of them," and staff also described issuing subpoenas to get booking data out of the platforms. That gap is precisely what the pending facilitator ordinance is meant to close, so I'd expect audit coverage here to improve over the next couple of years. Underreporting the 11.5% is not a risk I'd price into a model.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Palm Springs

Given how much of that turns on things you can check for free, the order below still matters more than it looks. The early steps are the ones that tell you whether the later ones are worth paying for.

1. Check the neighborhood percentage first. Open the density page and the neighborhood map for the exact address. A neighborhood at or above 20% means your application gets returned and the only option is a waiting list.
2. Confirm the property type. Single-family only. Apartments, triplexes and other multi-unit dwellings can't be licensed, and five or more bedrooms puts you in Estate Home territory with a land use permit.
3. Check your own eligibility. One certificate per person, partnership, small LLC of natural persons or family trust, and no corporations. If you already hold one in the city, you're done before you start.
4. Get the HOA letter moving early. Boards are slow, the letter has to say operating a vacation rental doesn't violate the CC&Rs, and you'll need a fresh one at every renewal.
5. Line up insurance and the pool certification. A short-term rental or personal liability policy at the city's minimum limit, plus a signed statement and invoice from a C-10, C-53 or D-35 contractor if there's a pool or spa.
6. Request an account through the portal, then submit the application, the $1,046 fee and the $25 tax permit fee. Budget 30 to 90 days, and don't advertise until the written approval lands.
7. Pass the safety inspection. Walk the house against the checklist yourself first: closets and 120 square feet in every room you're calling a bedroom, alarms, an extinguisher within 20 feet of the cooking area, four-inch address numbers, pool alarms and gate latches.
8. Set up operations on day one. Contract summaries before every stay, the local contact who can be there in 30 minutes, the postings by the doors, and your account number in every listing.
9. File the tax return every month, including the months with no bookings, and diarize the renewal so the certificate never lapses.

Who to Contact in Palm Springs about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever of those steps you get stuck on, three offices cover almost everything, and knowing which one owns the question saves a lot of time.

Certificates, inspections and compliance

The Department of Special Program Compliance administers Chapter 5.25 and issues every certificate.

• Address: 425 N. Civic Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262
• Phone: (760) 322-8382
• Email: [email protected]
• Inspections: (760) 322-8372 or (760) 322-8370, per the department's safety inspection form
• Complaint hotline: (760) 322-8383, to be called while a disturbance is happening
• Applications, renewals, contract summaries and tax filing: the GovOS portal at palmspringsca.munirevs.com

Transient occupancy tax and the TBID assessment

The Finance and Treasury Department runs the tax side, and it's a separate desk from the compliance office.

• TOT Desk: (760) 323-8226, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday
• Email: [email protected]
• City Hall: 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262, (760) 323-8299

Citations and appeals

Fines are handled by the city's contractor, while anything touching the certificate goes to the City Clerk.

• Citation Processing Center: City of Palm Springs Administrative Citation Program, P.O. Box 7275, Newport Beach, CA 92658-7275, 1 (800) 969-6158
• Certificate suspensions, revocations and denials: the Office of the City Clerk, with the $1,324 appeal fee, within 15 calendar days of the mailing date

What Do Airbnb Hosts in Palm Springs on Reddit and Bigger Pockets Think about Local Regulations?

Sentiment here is calmer than in most regulated markets, and the reason is that the fight already happened. What follows is my read of public discussion plus the city's own record, not a survey. I should say plainly that Reddit blocks the automated access I have, so nothing below is sourced from there.

• The rules themselves are treated as settled. Measure C would have banned vacation rentals in single-family zones from 2020, and city officials estimated it would have knocked out 82% of eligible rental properties. Voters said no by roughly 69% to 31%, and no comparable ballot fight has followed.
• The contract cap confuses newcomers more than anything else. On BiggerPockets, a host asking whether Palm Springs' limit meant guests or bookings was told it counts contracts, so a seven-night stay burns one of them regardless of how many people arrive. That distinction decides whether the model works, and plenty of spreadsheets get it wrong.
• Investors chasing scale tend to leave. The one-certificate rule pushes anyone wanting a second or third property into other Coachella Valley cities, and BiggerPockets threads on the area move quickly to that comparison instead of arguing with Palm Springs.
• Operators who are already in mostly wanted the legacy cap kept, and in October 2025 they got it. City data presented alongside that decision showed most owners nowhere near their limit: of 2,570 properties filing contract summaries in 2024, average use ran between nine and 12 contracts, and only 8.4% used 33 to 36.
• The next argument is about property managers, not owners. The Administrative Appeals Board spent 2025 working on recommendations covering manager registration and education programs, including proposed fines for advertising unlicensed units. Those are recommendations rather than law, so don't plan around them yet.

Take the trend seriously all the same. Registrations are falling, citations are falling, and the council responded by loosening a cap rather than tightening it. That's an unusual direction for California in 2026, though it comes paired with a city that is about to get much better data on what you actually book. When you're ready to put numbers against the rules, the Palm Springs market is where to check what comparable homes are earning before you commit to the fee schedule above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Palm Springs in 2026?

Yes, with a City of Palm Springs vacation rental registration certificate under Chapter 5.25 of the municipal code. Only single-family homes qualify, apartments and multi-unit buildings are excluded, and each person, small LLC or family trust may hold just one certificate. New applications are refused in any Organized Neighborhood where vacation rentals already make up 20% or more of the residential units. Stays of 29 days or more fall outside the ordinance entirely.

How much does a Palm Springs vacation rental certificate cost?

The annual registration fee is $1,046 for both new applications and renewals, set by Resolution No. 25344 and effective December 1, 2025. A Junior certificate costs $523, a homeshare certificate $261, the Estate Home land use permit $647, a transfer $222 and an appeal $1,324. A one-time $25 transient occupancy tax permit fee applies as well. Every one of those fees is non-refundable, whether or not the application succeeds.

How many bookings a year can a Palm Springs vacation rental take?

It depends on when the application was filed. Properties whose complete application reached the city after October 17, 2022 are capped at 26 contracts per calendar year. Properties certificated on or before that date keep 32 contracts, plus up to four more that fall entirely within the third quarter. Ordinance No. 2118, adopted November 12, 2025, cancelled the reduction of that legacy cap to 26 that had been scheduled for January 1, 2026. Junior certificates allow six.

What taxes do Palm Springs short-term rentals pay?

Guests pay 11.5% transient occupancy tax plus a 1% Greater Palm Springs Tourism Business Improvement District assessment, so 12.5% on top of the rent. Both are filed monthly through the city's portal, including in months with no bookings, and late filing costs 10% of the tax due or $50, whichever is greater, plus interest. Airbnb does not collect Palm Springs city tax on a host's behalf, so the owner remits it.

What happens if you rent out a Palm Springs home without a certificate?

Operating or advertising a vacation rental without a registration certificate exposes the owner to fines of up to $5,000 and permanent ineligibility for the city's program. No courtesy or pre-citation notice is given first. Citations are issued through the Citation Processing Center and must be appealed within 15 calendar days, and an appeal against a certificate denial or revocation carries a non-refundable $1,324 fee payable to the City Clerk.

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