Is short term rental allowed now in Santa Cruz

[Diane G.]

I thought short term rental was ban in Santa Cruz years ago, as a coworker at the time bought into it and a year later, short term rental got banned....She took a big hit at the time because RE prices tanked because of that legislation.....

But it seems to be legal again now?  Anyone knows?

[Shane Pearlman]

Short term vacation rentals are in flux within Santa Cruz. To be explicit, I am referring to a residential home, duplex or portion of a home which is rented for less than 30 days.

To start, "Santa Cruz" is both the city and county. Each city, as well as the county itself has its own regulation.

Santa Cruz city just put a moratorium at the end of 2016 on the creation of NEW vacation rentals which are not occupied by the owner (you can still rent space within your home, or an ADU), which will run through May 2017 while they draft long term regulation. For more specifics: http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/departments/short-term-vacation-rental-stvr

Capitola has designated vacation rental zone, and requires a permit, business license, and payment of the transient and occupancy (aka hotel) tax. http://www.cityofcapitola.org/communitydevelopment/page/vacation-rental-rules-and-regulations

Santa Cruz County will allow up to 20% of the parcels within a “block” to be designated as short term rentals. This covers live oak, Seacliff, Aptos and a bunch of other pretty nice beach towns. Permits are valid for 5 years. The application requires full schematics of the property (fun times). http://www.sccoplanning.com/PlanningHome/ZoningDevelopment/VacationRentals.aspx

Most of the mountain towns, Scotts Valley, Felton, Boulder Creek… have no regulations that I am aware of.