Palm Springs Rewrites STR Contract Rules: What Ordinance 2133 Means for Your Permit

Palm Springs just changed the math on how many times you can rent your home each year, and the number you are allowed depends entirely on when you got your permit. The city adopted Ordinance 2133 on July 8, 2026, cementing a two-tier contract system under Chapter 5.25 that treats new and existing permittees differently. If you are building a booking calendar around the wrong limit, you are already out of compliance.

Two Tiers, Two Very Different Ceilings

The ordinance draws a hard line between hosts who are new to the system and those who already hold certificates. New permittees are capped at 26 vacation-rental contracts per calendar year. Existing permittees get a higher ceiling: 32 contracts, plus up to four additional contracts occurring entirely during the third quarter. That third-quarter bonus matters enormously in a desert market where summer demand is real and every booking counts.

Junior Vacation Rental certificate holders operate under a much tighter limit of 6 contracts per calendar year. Homeshare operators, by contrast, are exempt from the standard vacation-rental contract cap entirely.

One detail that trips up even experienced hosts: a "contract" is not the same as a rented night. A single booking agreement covering multiple nights counts as one contract. That means minimum-stay strategy and calendar structure directly affect how much revenue you can legally generate before hitting your annual ceiling.

New certificates are also prorated during their first calendar year, so a host who receives authorization mid-year does not get a full 26-contract allotment from day one.

Why the Ordinance Also Changed Friends-and-Family Stays

Ordinance 2133 did not only adjust the headline contract numbers. The source guidance notes that the ordinance "also changed how qualifying Friends and Family stays interact with annual limits," which means hosts who have historically used personal-use periods to manage their contract count may find those calculations no longer work the same way. The city is directing all permittees to verify Chapter 5.25 and their individual certificate conditions before relying on any limit.

The Rest of the Compliance Picture

Contract limits are only one piece of a demanding operating framework. The city requires a local contact who is available around the clock, must respond by phone within 15 minutes after city notification, and must appear in person within 30 minutes if a complaint goes unresolved. Outdoor amplified music is prohibited while the property is rented, and sound-producing devices must stay inside and must not be audible at the property line.

On the tax side, the city lists an 11.5% Transient Occupancy Tax for vacation rentals, filed monthly through the GovOS portal. A zero return is still required for months with no rental activity. A separate 1% Tourism Business Improvement District assessment applies to qualifying short-term stays of 27 days or less. Hosts using Airbnb, Vrbo, or direct booking channels need to confirm exactly who is collecting, reporting, and remitting each of those obligations.

The annual Vacation Rental Registration Certificate carries a fee of $1,046, with Junior certificates at $523, Homeshare at $261, and an Estate Home land-use permit at $647. Proof of at least $500,000 in liability coverage per occurrence is required, and the property must pass a city safety inspection before operating.

What Hosts Should Do Right Now

The city is explicit that hosts may not advertise or operate while an application is pending, and it describes the certificate as "a privilege rather than a right." That framing signals how seriously Palm Springs treats non-compliance.

• Pull your certificate and read the conditions section. Do not assume you know your contract limit from memory or from what applied last year.
• Audit your 2026 booking calendar against your specific tier. New permittee or existing? Junior or standard? The answer changes your ceiling significantly.
• Recalculate any Friends and Family stays you have counted or excluded under the old rules. Ordinance 2133 changed how those interact with annual limits.
• Confirm your TOT and TBID collection setup is current, especially if you switched platforms or added direct bookings since your last renewal.
• Make sure your local contact can genuinely meet the 15-minute phone and 30-minute in-person response standards, not just nominally satisfy the requirement on paper.

The city's GovOS portal handles applications, renewals, and monthly tax filings. If anything in your certificate conditions is unclear, contact the City of Palm Springs directly before advertising another night.

For the complete Palm Springs compliance guide including tax calculator, checklist, and daily monitoring, see Palm Springs, CA STR Regulations.