After years of pushing Riverside County for more enforcement over short-term rental properties, residents of Idyllwild, the Temecula wine country and other rural communities are split on whether new rules will finally restore peace to their neighborhoods.
The number of short-term rentals in unincorporated Riverside County has more than tripled over the last decade, from roughly 300 in 2016 to more than 1,000 today, with the highest numbers in Idyllwild and the wine country near Temecula.
The county, which first established its short-term rental program in 2016, has revised the program multiple times amid that surge, with many residents complaining about large parties, trash and traffic at these rentals that disrupt their livelihoods and hurt property
values.
In response to what neighbors see as a lack of enforcement, the board of supervisors unanimously agreed this week to expand its code enforcement hours in areas with high numbers of short-term rentals. The five-member board also established stricter rules over what could lead to a rental license being suspended or revoked.
The changes were approved after county officials found the existing ordinance “lacks sufficient enforcement power” for delinquent short-term rental properties to be cited appropriately for code violations. Short-term rentals are defined as residential properties leased for a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of two days and one night.
County planners told the board they haven’t revoked any short-term rental certificates, and it wasn’t clear how many have been suspended. But they told the board that the proposal will give code enforcement more authority by accounting for types of violations that previously didn’t count towards tallies for license suspensions and revocations.
“We’ve got to be results-oriented here,” said Supervisor Chuck Washington, whose district includes the Temecula wine country. “In my mind, the top three things that we really want to get out of this are enforcement, accountability and stop the nuisance. If we can’t achieve that, then this ordinance change will be worthless.”
'We don't sit in our backyard anymore'
The proposal drew mixed reactions from several residents of the Idyllwild and wine country areas who spoke during the board’s July 28 meeting. While some viewed the changes as a positive step, others criticized parts of the proposal, including a section that would increase the maximum occupancy by two for certain short-term rentals with hosted stays.
“This can affect our property values,” Karen Dillon told the board, urging its members to instead adopted a maximum occupancy of two people per bedroom.
Alan Paynter, who lives in the wine country region, told the board that he’s made nearly 40 complaints and seven calls to police over the last two years regarding a property next door to his home. But he said those calls haven’t resulted in a single citation.
“My quality of life is awful,” Paynter said. “We don’t sit in our backyard anymore.”
While frustrated by the lack of enforcement, Paynter encouraged the board to pass the new rules, adding: “I hope there’s meat to this.”
The board also heard from Woody Henderson, a longtime Idyllwild resident involved with a local group pushing for tighter regulation and enforcement on short-term rentals.
He said his group generally supported the proposed changes, though they were concerned about a component that would eliminate an existing one-hour “self-correction” window that allows a short-term rental owner to address complaints themselves during that period. Instead, code enforcement officers would follow a “knock and talk'' model, conducting on-site visits immediately to address a reported issue.
“So many of our neighbors have stopped calling (code enforcement) for normal law-breaking, only calling in extreme circumstances,” Henderson said. “We’d love to see enforcement improved before weakening (the ordinance).”
Another speaker, Ronald Kuehl, disagreed, saying the 60-minute warning period gave chronic violators “yet another opportunity to avoid consequences” and often led to the issues repeating themselves within a matter of days.
“If we can approve this, I think it will give, staff, code, the resources they need, and you won’t eve have to see me again,” Kuehl told the board. “That’s my hope. … These are recommendations residents have been making for years, and finally we’re being heard.”
But others were critical of the changes altogether. Janis Charnay said the proposal “protects party house operators and not residents.” She added that neighbors often face retaliation from those who operate short-term rentals, resulting in fewer people speaking out when the properties host large parties.
STR moratorium lifted in two valley communities
As part of the proposal approved this week, the board also agreed to lift a long-standing moratorium on new short-term rentals in Thousand Palms and B Bar H Ranch near Desert Hot Springs.
The board initially approved a pause on new short-term rentals for the areas in March 2025, following complaints from neighbors over loud parties and blocked roadways. At the time, code officials said they had flagged more than 70 properties in Thousand Palms and B Bar H Ranch operating without short-term rental permits.
But new code enforcement data suggests the issues with rentals in those areas are on the decline. In April of this year — when attendees of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach filled rental properties across the valley — code enforcement received just two complaints over short-term rentals in Thousand Palms and B Bar H Ranch, neither of which resulted in citations.
Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, who represents the valley, said the board is “not going to be able to win over everybody on this issue,” and he acknowledged the county's short-term rental program is a “work in progress.”
As part of the vote, Perez and Washington proposed to reduce the number of violations required for a short-term rental license to be suspended or revoked, setting those at three and five respectively. The supervisors also directed county planners to pursue a public platform online that shows short-term rental complaints and any actions taken by code enforcement officers, similar to a portal provided in San Bernardino County.
The proposed changes will return to the board for a second, final vote at an upcoming meeting.
Tom Coulter covers local government and politics. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Will new rules fix short-term rental issues in Idyllwild, wine country?
