CanIBnBCalifornia STR Rules
Merced County · checked 2026-09-13

Can you BnB it in Atwater?

The rules, with their sources

Permit or licenseNo permit is required; the code has no short-term rental permit program.L13.48.030 · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Transfer when the home sellsCode silent on transfer. Atwater issues no short term rental permit or license, so there is nothing to transfer at a sale. A buyer who rents to transients would be an operator under the transient occupancy tax chapter 3.48 and would have to register with the city in the buyer's own name; that registration duty is personal to the operator and is not inherited from the seller.L1none; chapter 3.48 (transient occupancy tax) is the only related chapter · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Read the code text →

In the city's own words

3.48.020“any structure, or any portion of any structure, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes” source
3.48.020“for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or less” source
3.48.030“a tax in the amount of eight percent of the rent charged by the operator” source

Citation: Title 3, Chapter 3.48 Transient Occupancy Tax, sections 3.48.020 and 3.48.030 (Ord. CS 766, adopted 11-10-1998; Ord. CS 639, 1988). No short term rental chapter exists in Title 5 or Title 17.

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How this page was verified

Verified from the municipal code (level 1), checked on 2026-09-13 by the CanIBnB research desk. Research is AI assisted and human reviewed; the method, the level system, and the re-check schedule are on the How we verify page. If anything here is wrong, report it and it goes in the public corrections log.