County jurisdiction · checked 2026-09-13
Can you BnB it in unincorporated Mendocino County?
RestrictedIn the Mendocino County coastal zone a vacation home rental is a recognized residential use and is listed as a principal permitted use in the rural residential district, so whole house rentals are generally allowed subject to a business license and the county transient occupancy tax. Inside the Town of Mendocino the county caps vacation home rentals at ten and single unit rentals at twenty, keeps a waiting list, and a vacation home rental license does not pass to a buyer except to a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, or an estate planning trust.
The rules, with their sources
Permit or licenseA permit or license is required before operating.L120.376.010 · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Hosted onlyThe code does not limit rentals to hosted stays.L1Coastal Zoning Code Secs. 20.316.015, 20.376.010 and 20.456.015 (Ord. No. 3785 (part), adopted 1991; Ord. No. 4497, Sec. 7, 11-9-2021); Mendocino Town Zoning Code Chapter 20.748 (Ord. No. 3915 (part), adopted 1995; Ord. No. 4395, Sec. 2, 11-17-2017); Inland Zoning Code Sec. 20.164.015(L) (Ord. No. 4538, Sec. 41(Exh. A), 9-10-2024); Transient occupancy tax Chapter 5.20 (Ord. No. 478, 1965; Ord. No. 4442, 11-19-2019) · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Primary residenceThe code does not require the rental to be the operator's primary residence.L1Coastal Zoning Code Secs. 20.316.015, 20.376.010 and 20.456.015 (Ord. No. 3785 (part), adopted 1991; Ord. No. 4497, Sec. 7, 11-9-2021); Mendocino Town Zoning Code Chapter 20.748 (Ord. No. 3915 (part), adopted 1995; Ord. No. 4395, Sec. 2, 11-17-2017); Inland Zoning Code Sec. 20.164.015(L) (Ord. No. 4538, Sec. 41(Exh. A), 9-10-2024); Transient occupancy tax Chapter 5.20 (Ord. No. 478, 1965; Ord. No. 4442, 11-19-2019) · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Caps and limitsTown of Mendocino only: no more than ten (10) Vacation Home Rentals and twenty (20) Single Unit Rentals at any time (Sec. 20.748.020(A)); new applications are granted only when the count is below those numbers; the Department keeps a status log and a waiting list and fills vacancies from the list when licenses expire or are revoked (Sec. 20.748.020(I)). No countywide numeric cap was found in either the Inland Zoning Code or the Coastal Zoning Code.L120.748.020(A) · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Transfer when the home sellsTown of Mendocino, Sec. 20.748.020: a Single Unit Rental license runs with the ownership of the land but is not otherwise transferable; a Vacation Home Rental license is not transferable to another location, person, or entity, except that the property owner may transfer it to a spouse or domestic partner, a child, a parent, or, for estate planning purposes, to a trust in which the property owner serves as trustee, and such a transfer is not treated as a change of ownership for purposes of County Code Sec. 6.04.070(g). Outside the Town of Mendocino the zoning codes are silent on transfer: Vacation Home Rental is a land use classification rather than a personal permit, so the land use entitlement attaches to the property, while the business license and transient occupancy tax registration are held by the operator and a new owner must obtain his or her own.L120.748.020(E) · code text · checked 2026-09-13
Read the code text →
In the county's own words
20.316.015“A single-family residential dwelling unit intended for single-family occupancy designed to be let or hired as an entire unit for occupancy by transient guests for compensation or profit.” source
20.376.010“Family Residential: Single-family; Vacation Home Rental.” source
20.748.020(A)“To preserve Town character and maintain the Town as a residential community with limited commercial services, the County shall maintain no more than ten (10) Vacation Home Rentals and twenty (20) Single Unit Rentals subsequent to the effective date of this Section.” source
20.748.020(E)“Vacation Home Rental licenses shall not be transferable to another location, person, or entity, except that the property owner may transfer the license to a spouse/domestic partner, child, parent, or, for estate planning purposes, to a trust in which the property owner serves as a trustee, which shall not be deemed a change in ownership for purposes of Section 6.04.070(g) of the County Code.” source
Citation: Coastal Zoning Code Secs. 20.316.015, 20.376.010 and 20.456.015 (Ord. No. 3785 (part), adopted 1991; Ord. No. 4497, Sec. 7, 11-9-2021); Mendocino Town Zoning Code Chapter 20.748 (Ord. No. 3915 (part), adopted 1995; Ord. No. 4395, Sec. 2, 11-17-2017); Inland Zoning Code Sec. 20.164.015(L) (Ord. No. 4538, Sec. 41(Exh. A), 9-10-2024); Transient occupancy tax Chapter 5.20 (Ord. No. 478, 1965; Ord. No. 4442, 11-19-2019)
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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.