Just how Airbnb-ified is the Coachella Valley?
Over the past decade or so, few changes have had a larger impact on the valley’s tourism-dependent economy than the rise of short-term vacation rentals.
Such rentals on Airbnb and its competitors have become a big business, providing a new income stream for homeowners while allowing visitors to stay in roomier spaces in residential neighborhoods with few or no hotels.
But not all of the valley's nine cities allow short-term rentals.
Instead, they've taken increasingly disparate approaches to regulating vacation rentals, with some allowing them liberally, while others have adopted tighter regulations or even banned them entirely. The landscape has also often shifted repeatedly and dramatically, with communities
revising their rules as the rental industry has changed and concerns have increased about how home rentals impact neighboring residents.
It all adds up to a rather confusing patchwork of rules that can be difficult to make sense of — until now.
Here's a look at the rules on short-term rentals for every Coachella Valley city, as well as the unincorporated parts of the valley. In some cases, the rules are complex, so be sure to check with the city for more details if you're thinking about renting out your home or booking a stay.
Desert Hot Springs
Allowed, but numbers are capped
Licenses are capped at 4% of housing units in the city. There must also be 500 feet between short-term rental properties.
Palm Springs
Allowed, but numbers are capped, plus other restrictions
Rentals are capped at 20% of the housing stock in each of the 52 city-defined neighborhoods (a few neighborhoods are currently above the 20% threshold because some rentals were grandfathered in). City law also requires that short-term rentals be a “secondary” use of homes or condos where people live either part-time or full-time.
Most rentals are now limited to 26 contracts a year, while permits dating back to October 2022 or earlier are allowed 30 contracts per year, along with an additional four in the last quarter of the year. The city also issues a “junior vacation rental registration certificate” that allows up to six contracts a year and is open to any homeowner without being subject to the neighborhood cap. Home shares — in which the owner stays at the home while hosting a short term-renter — are not subject to the 20% neighborhood cap.
Cathedral City
Allowed in only some areas
Allowed only in some developments overseen by homeowner’s associations or similar entities that have chosen to permit them. Those developments must be located in portions of the city that have been zoned as “Resort Residential.”
Rancho Mirage
Entirely banned
All properties in the city need to be rented in increments of at least 28 days.
Palm Desert
Very limited
Along with Palm Springs, Palm Desert has some of the most complicated short-term rental rules in the Coachella Valley. The big thing to know is that off-site rentals, in which the property owner is off-site during the renter's stay, are allowed in only a few areas, including those made up of multifamily housing and areas around the city’s downtown (HOAs can also permit off-site short-term rentals in the developments they govern).
The single-family neighborhoods that make up much more of the city are open only to on-site rentals – the city's term for home shares in which the owner continues to reside on-site while hosting short-term renters. On-site rentals are also allowed everywhere that off-site rentals are.
Indian Wells
Allowed in only some areas
Short-term rentals are allowed only in communities with an HOA or a similar governing structure that have voted to permit them. Larger communities that have done so include the Toscana Country Club, The Reserve and Desert Horizons. One-night rentals are not allowed.
Otherwise, short-term rentals are not allowed in the city, with the exception of a roughly monthlong period coinciding with the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. Even during that period, all stays must be for at least a week.
One Indian Wells homeowner who sued the city, challenging its rules on short-term rentals as unconstitutional, recently lost his case when a state appeals court upheld the city's regulations.
La Quinta
Allowed in only some areas
New short-term rental permits are currently limited to just a few areas of the city, including a small area surrounding Old Town La Quinta and the Estates at Griffin Lake community. They are currently largely banned in the rest of the city, although holders of permits issued prior to the ban are able to renew them and the city also has the discretion to allow them when it approves new developments.
Short-term rentals also continue to be allowed on properties that are at least 25,000 square feet. Also allowed are home shares, where a property owner remains at the property during the stay.
Indio
Generally allowed
Short-term rentals are permitted in the city, although specific homeowner’s and community associations can disallow them.
Coachella
Allowed, but numbers are capped
Short-term rentals are allowed but capped at 20% of housing units in each city-defined neighborhood. However, the city also issues seasonal permits that can be used to host short-term rentals from March 1 to June 1 and are not subject to that neighborhood cap. Individual owners are now limited to five permits, although some were grandfathered in prior to the making of that rule.
Unincorporated Riverside County
Generally allowed
Short-term rentals are allowed in unincorporated areas, including Thousand Palms, Bermuda Dunes and the far eastern Coachella Valley. But there are caps on the number of rentals allowed in two highly touristed areas, Idyllwild and the Temecula Valley Wine Country. The cap in Idyllwild is set at 14% of the homes in the community, about 500.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development, business and, sometimes, music festivals in the Coachella Valley. Email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Looking for rentals in Palm Springs area? Here are the rules by city
