City Watch
Short-term rental rules in San Francisco, CA
How San Francisco regulates short-term rentals: the rules that apply, their sources, and pending changes.
Rules here limit which homes may operate as short-term rentals, how many, where, or for how many nights a year.
- Primary-residence / permanent-resident requirement: host must occupy the unit at least 275 nights per calendar year to be an eligible STR host (supply constraint — non-primary-residence STRs are prohibited).
- Hard 90-night annual cap on un-hosted (whole-home, host-not-present) rentals; cumulative across all platforms.
- Mandatory registration certificate with the Office of Short-Term Rentals plus a Business Registration Certificate before any legal STR operation.
- Consolidated City and County enforcement (Office of Short-Term Rentals) with certificate suspension penalties; platform accountability enforced via 2016 Airbnb settlement.
- Not a coastal-zone STR-restriction question — SF is a consolidated urban jurisdiction and the ordinance is fully in force (adopted Ord. 218-14, effective Feb 2015, later strengthened).
Based on: S.F. Administrative Code Chapter 41A (Residential Unit Conversion and Short-Term Residential Rentals), esp. §41A.5; STR
Summary of the rule
STRs allowed only in the host's primary residence; host must be a permanent resident occupying the unit at least 275 nights per calendar year.
View the ordinance source ↗✓ Verified
Active litigation / open question
Airbnb, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco (N.D. Cal. 2016) — Platform challenge to the 2016 host-registration-verification ordinance resolved by settlement; platforms agreed to pass-through registration enforcement (only registered listings). Ordinance and enforcement remain in force. Source ↗
Reported as fact only, reflecting the code as currently in effect — not legal advice, and not a prediction of the outcome. Verify current status before relying on it.
Last reviewed Sep 9, 2026 · Sources · Report an error
Pending legislation
Monitoring San Francisco · system last checked Oct 25, 2026
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City Watch provides good-faith summaries of publicly available information as of the review date shown. Rules, enforcement, and permit availability can change, and summaries may contain errors or omissions. Ratings describe the general regulatory environment; they do not establish whether a particular property or stay is permitted. This is general information, not legal advice. Before buying, listing, or hosting, verify applicable requirements with the responsible authorities and review any HOA, condominium, deed, or lease restrictions.