Short-term rental glossary
The terms that decide whether — and how — you can legally run a short-term rental, explained in plain English.
Short-term rental (STR)
A furnished home or room rented to guests for a short period — commonly fewer than 30 consecutive nights — typically listed on platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.
Transient occupancy tax (TOT)
A local tax on the rental of lodging for short stays, charged to the guest and collected by the host or booking platform.
Lodging tax
An umbrella term for the taxes charged on paid overnight stays, which can stack state, county, city, and special-district rates.
Primary residence requirement
A rule that only allows short-term renting of the home the host actually lives in as their main residence.
Owner-occupancy requirement
A rule requiring the property owner to live on-site (or on the same parcel) to operate a short-term rental.
Annual night cap
A limit on the number of nights per year a property can be rented as a short-term rental.
Hosted vs. unhosted rental
Whether the host is present on the property during the guest's stay (hosted) or the guest has the place to themselves (unhosted).
Whole-home rental
A short-term rental where guests have exclusive use of an entire dwelling, with no host living on-site during the stay.
Conditional use permit (CUP)
A discretionary permit that allows a use not normally permitted in a zone, subject to conditions and often a public hearing.
Certificate of occupancy
A document certifying that a building complies with codes and is safe to occupy for a stated use.
Non-conforming use
A use that was legal when established but no longer complies with current zoning, and is allowed to continue under limited conditions.
Grandfather clause
A provision letting existing operators continue under old rules after a regulation changes.
De facto ban (effective ban)
Rules that don't formally ban short-term rentals but make them practically impossible to operate.
Density cap (saturation cap)
A limit on how many short-term rentals are allowed within an area, block, or building.
Permit waitlist / lottery
A queue or random draw used to allocate a limited number of short-term-rental permits.
Accessory dwelling unit (ADU)
A secondary self-contained living unit on the same lot as a primary home.
Zoning overlay
A supplemental zoning layer that adds or relaxes rules for a defined area on top of the base zoning.
HOA CC&Rs
The recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions of a homeowners association that bind properties within it.
Business license
A general license or tax registration to conduct business in a jurisdiction, sometimes required in addition to an STR permit.
Proof of liability insurance
Evidence that a host carries liability coverage at a required limit, sometimes a condition of an STR permit.
Minimum stay requirement
A rule setting the fewest nights a guest may book, sometimes used to discourage party rentals or high turnover.
Mid-term rental (MTR)
A furnished rental for a medium duration — typically 30 nights or more — bridging short-term and traditional long-term leasing.
Transient lodging
Lodging occupied for a short, temporary period, the legal category that most short-term rentals fall under.
Registration / permit number
A unique identifier issued when a short-term rental is registered, often required to be displayed on listings.