Can this property be a vacation rental?

Three codes, three answers

Mendocino County is governed by three separate zoning codes, and which one applies to a parcel decides everything. Division I covers the inland county. Division II is the coastal zone, under a Local Coastal Program certified by the Coastal Commission. Division III is the Town of Mendocino. A parcel inside a city is governed by that city instead.

Inland: a use permit on private-road parcels, and nothing on the rest

The inland county is often described as having no short-term rental rules. That is not quite right, and the difference matters.

Since a 2010 Planning Director determination, the county has classified a vacation rental as an accessory Room and Board use under Mendocino County Code section 20.164.015(L). The Planning Commission reclassified whole-house rentals as commercial lodging in November 2022, which would have required a major use permit; the Board of Supervisors upheld an appeal on April 25, 2023 and restored the 2010 determination. So the 2010 reading is the operative one today.

What survives from it is a real gate. Section 20.164.015(L) requires a use permit on any parcel that lacks frontage on a publicly maintained road. A private-road parcel is therefore discretionary, and the county both processes and denies these. In 2026 a Ukiah-area application on a rural residential parcel was recommended for approval by staff and then directed toward denial by the Planning Commission over septic capacity, fire safety and nuisance.

Everything else inland is the tax stack: register for the county transient occupancy tax and remit 10 percent, plus a 1 percent business improvement district assessment.

The inland ordinance is still unwritten

The county has had a short-term rental ordinance in development since 2023. On February 3, 2026 the Board gave staff direction: broad support for a good-neighbor policy, revocation after three verified violations, interest in discretionary review for private-road parcels, and a host or manager able to respond within 15 to 20 minutes rather than an on-site owner. The Board rejected corporate-ownership limits and stayed open to regional caps while asking for more data.

No draft has been written since. There is no environmental review, no Planning Commission hearing calendared, and nothing on any Board agenda through September 15, 2026. Adoption before 2027 is not realistic. Meanwhile the county renewed its short-term rental monitoring contract in September 2026 — it is tracking rentals countywide while the ordinance is still being drafted.

The coastal zone

The coastal code treats a Vacation Home Rental as its own use type — a whole house, rented without the owner present. Which coastal districts permit one, and whether any cap applies, has to be read out of Division II directly; the county’s code is not reliably readable online, and this page will not restate a district list it cannot verify. Ask Planning and Building Services for a written zoning determination on the specific parcel before you write an offer.

Two coastal facts are settled and both matter. First, a vacation home rental is prohibited on any coastal parcel carrying an accessory dwelling unit or a junior ADU. That is a deal-killer that does not appear in most listing descriptions. Second, coastal work requires a Coastal Development Permit, decided by the Coastal Permit Administrator after referrals, an environmental determination and a noticed hearing, then a ten-day local appeal period, then a state appeal period once the Coastal Commission receives the notice of final action. The county publishes no current fee schedule or processing time for this, so budget it with the department rather than from a number found online.

A Coastal Development Permit can be assigned to a new owner under section 20.536.040, using the county’s assignment application. Both parties sign affidavits, the buyer assumes every condition, and the original permit has to still be valid. This is the one thing in Mendocino County that genuinely conveys, and it is worth confirming early in escrow.

Town of Mendocino

Chapter 20.748 caps the town at ten vacation home rentals and twenty single-unit rentals. New vacation home rentals are confined to the MU and MC districts, and rentals in residential districts are phased out as business licenses lapse. A waiting list runs in order of application.

The transfer rules differ by type and the difference is the whole deal. A single-unit rental license runs with the ownership of the land and survives a sale. A vacation home rental permit does not transfer to another location, person or entity, except to family members or a trust for estate purposes. The county publishes no register of how many of either are issued, so the only way to know what a specific property holds is to ask Planning and Building Services and the Treasurer-Tax Collector about that parcel.

The cities

• Fort Bragg — the inland code has a vacation rental provision; the coastal code has none, so no coastal path exists today. On August 24, 2026 the Council passed a first reading that would allow short-term rentals in the coastal-zone central business district, capped at ten permits. Second reading and Coastal Commission certification are still ahead.
• Ukiah — a business license and 10 percent transient occupancy tax, with an active compliance program. A 2024 measure to raise the rate failed. No cap or zoning restriction surfaced.
• Point Arena — permitted under Chapter 5.30, one rental per person or entity, prohibited on parcels with an ADU or JADU, forfeited if unused for a year, and void on change of ownership. A tax measure goes to voters in November 2026.
• Willits — no ordinance, program or zoning provision could be found. Treat it as unknown and call the city.