County jurisdiction · checked 2026-09-14
Can you BnB it in unincorporated Santa Barbara County?
RestrictedIn unincorporated Santa Barbara County outside the coastal zone, whole home short term rentals are allowed only in the zones whose land use tables list them, mainly certain commercial zones, and must cease elsewhere. In residential zones the only option is a permitted homestay, limited to three bedrooms with the owner holding at most one homestay permit.
The rules, with their sources
Permit or licenseA permit or license is required before operating.L135.42.245 · code text · checked 2026-09-14
Hosted onlyThe code does not limit rentals to hosted stays.L1LUDC 35.42.245 (Short-Term Rentals) and 35.42.193 (Homestays); Montecito parallels 35.442.160 and 35.442.135; added by Ordinance 5014 (Case 16ORD-00009), adopted 10/03/2017 per Appendix A Table of Ordinances · code text · checked 2026-09-14
Caps and limitsHomestays are limited to up to three bedrooms of a legal dwelling unit, and a property owner may hold only one homestay permit at a time (35.42.193, 35.442.135). No countywide numeric cap on Short-Term Rentals found in the sections read.L135.42.193 · code text · checked 2026-09-14
Transfer when the home sellsNo transfer sentence was found in the code fragments read. Homestay permits are issued to the property owner and an owner may possess only one homestay permit at any given time, which implies they do not run with the land, but we have not yet read the code text on transfer itself.L135.42.193 / 35.442.135 (owner possession limit) · code text · checked 2026-09-14
Read the code text →
In the county's own words
35.42.245“The use of a structure as a Short-Term Rental in zones where Short-Term Rentals may not be permitted in compliance with Article 35.2 (Zones and Allowable Land Uses) shall cease no later than 333 days following the effective date of this ordinance (16ORD-00000-00009).” source
35.42.245“If the required permit is not issued within 333 days following the effective date of this ordinance, then use of the structure as a Short-Term Rental shall cease.” source
35.42.245 Purpose“The purpose of this Section is to establish standards that will regulate the use of structures as Short-Term Rentals in order to ensure that Short-Term Rentals are compatible with and do not adversely impact surrounding properties.” source
35.42.193“Homestays shall only be allowed in up to three bedrooms of a legal dwelling unit” source
Citation: LUDC 35.42.245 (Short-Term Rentals) and 35.42.193 (Homestays); Montecito parallels 35.442.160 and 35.442.135; added by Ordinance 5014 (Case 16ORD-00009), adopted 10/03/2017 per Appendix A Table of Ordinances
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How this page was verified
Verified from the municipal code (level 1), checked on 2026-09-14 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.