Maximum Occupancy Rules for Vacation Rentals

The maximum number of people allowed in a Lake Tahoe vacation rental is set by the county or city that issued the home's permit, and it is written on that permit. In Washoe County (Incline Village and Crystal Bay) it is two people per legal bedroom plus one for every 200 square feet of the rest of the living space. In Placer County (Kings Beach to Tahoma) it is two per bedroom plus two at night, up to 12, not counting children under 12. In South Lake Tahoe's residential neighborhoods it is two per bedroom, plus up to five children aged 13 and under. Everywhere, the number of on-site parking spaces can pull the limit lower.

This guide is written for owners and buyers: how each jurisdiction calculates occupancy, worked examples, what counts as a bedroom, how children and daytime visitors are treated, and what an over-occupancy violation costs. Figures are from the current ordinances as of September 2026, linked in each section. Check the linked source before you rely on a number. This is general information, not legal advice.

Lake Tahoe vacation rental maximum occupancy limits at a glance

What does maximum occupancy mean?

Maximum occupancy is the most people the permit allows on the property. For a vacation rental in the Tahoe Basin it is not a fire-code figure for a hall or a restaurant, and it is not the number of beds the owner can fit. Each jurisdiction starts from the home's legal bedrooms (and in Washoe, its square footage), then lowers the number if the property can't park enough cars on-site or if a safety standard isn't met. The result is printed on the permit, must appear in the listing, and has to be posted inside the home.

Two points catch owners out. First, a bedroom is a legally permitted bedroom, not any room with a bed in it. Second, most of these limits are about people on the property, not only people sleeping there, so a barbecue with friends can put a rental over its limit in the middle of the afternoon.

Washoe County: Incline Village and Crystal Bay

Washoe County's short-term rental ordinance, Article 319 of the Development Code, was amended in September 2024 to clarify the formula. It now reads, in substance:

• Two occupants for every legally permitted bedroom.
• One occupant for every 200 square feet of the remaining habitable space (bedrooms excluded), following Table 1004.5 of the 2018 International Building Code.
• No distinction based on the age of the occupant.
• The limit can be lowered by available on-site parking, by a voluntary reduction the owner proposes, or by any life-safety factor the Planning and Building Director identifies.
• Daytime and nighttime occupancy limits are the same.

To count as a bedroom, the room must be listed on the Washoe County Assessor's website and meet the ordinance's safety standards. Garages, storage areas, bathrooms, laundry rooms, hallways and closets never count, and neither do basements, attics, lofts or garage conversions that were built without permits.

Parking in Washoe County

Inside the Tahoe Basin, one on-site parking space is required for every four occupants. The spaces must be on the property, improved to TRPA standards and dedicated to parking. Access easements and the public road don't count, and in condo complexes only the unit's assigned spaces count. If you can't build enough spaces, the ordinance says the maximum occupancy drops to match.

Tiers

Occupancy also sets the permit tier. Up to 10 occupants is Tier 1, 11 to 20 is Tier 2 (an Administrative Review Permit on top of the STR permit), and 21 or more is Tier 3 (a Special Use Permit). Buildings with a calculated occupant load over 10 need a monitored fire alarm system.

A worked example

Take a hypothetical Incline Village house with three permitted bedrooms, 1,200 square feet of other habitable space and three paved on-site spaces. Bedrooms give 6. The other space gives 1,200 ÷ 200 = 6. That's 12 by the formula, and three spaces times four also allows 12, so the permit would likely say 12, which makes it a Tier 2 rental needing the extra Administrative Review Permit. With only two spaces, the limit would be 8. The county inspector makes the final call, and changing occupancy later requires a paid modification and possibly a new inspection.

Placer County: the California North and West Shore

Placer County Code Article 9.42 sets occupancy for the Eastern Placer County Short-Term Rental Area:

• Nighttime: two people per bedroom plus two more, up to a maximum of 12 guests, excluding children under 12. Nighttime limits begin at 9 p.m.
• Daytime: one and a half times the nighttime number, again excluding children under 12.
• Limits can be raised case by case only with the agency director's approval or a county special-event permit, and never above California Building Code design limits.
• Both the daytime and nighttime numbers must appear in every listing and rental agreement.

So a three-bedroom Placer home allows 8 at night and 12 during the day, plus any children under 12. A five-bedroom home hits the cap: 10 plus 2 is 12, and 12 is the maximum however many bedrooms there are.

Placer requires on-site parking for every vehicle, boat and trailer, or a county-approved off-site parking plan, and bans parking on the road. The number of vehicles the parking fits has to be stated in the rental agreement and online listings. Quiet hours are 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. The county's Good Neighbor flyer, which every rental posts, reminds guests that fines run $1,500 to $5,000 per citation and can be issued to guests and owners.

South Lake Tahoe: city limits

The City of South Lake Tahoe rewrote its rules in Ordinance 2026-1203, adopted March 24, 2026 and effective April 23, 2026. Occupancy is the lower of two numbers: one based on paved parking spaces and one based on bedrooms, counting everyone on the property at any given time.

Parking allows four people per paved space: one space for 4, two for 8, three for 12, four for 16, five for 20. Each space must be at least 9 by 19 feet. On top of the bedroom number, up to five children aged 13 and under don't count (two in a studio). Owners can't voluntarily reduce occupancy to lower their fees. In HOA-governed condo complexes that have their own parking rules for renters, the parking table doesn't apply.

The South Lake Tahoe vacation home rental permit cap

The same ordinance caps permits in residential areas at 900. On August 21, 2026 the city said it will place new residential applications on a waitlist as it approaches the cap. The Tourist Core and commercial zones aren't capped. Residential rentals also need a property manager, a check-in that confirms the renter is at least 25, indoor noise and outdoor video monitoring, and a manager who can respond in person within 60 minutes. The city's VHR page lists fees, including annual permit fees that rise with occupancy, from $670 to $3,485. Our South Lake Tahoe vacation rental policy guide covers the full program.

El Dorado County outside the city

In unincorporated El Dorado County, each permit carries its own maximum occupancy, and Code Enforcement's VHR unit enforces it during quiet hours, 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The county's FAQ says only rooms permitted as bedrooms through Building Services count, and that occupancy can't be changed on an active permit: a change needs a new application, subject to the 500-foot buffer. Every rental needs at least two on-site parking spaces. Report problems to the county hotline at (530) 573-7999.

The same house in three places

To see how much the rules differ, take one hypothetical house: three permitted bedrooms, 1,200 square feet of other living space and two paved on-site parking spaces, rented to two couples with four children aged 6 to 10.

Add a fifth couple for a day by the lake and the answers change: over the limit in Washoe and South Lake Tahoe, but within Placer's daytime number. This is only an illustration. The permit issued for a real house, after inspection, is the number that counts.

Why parking so often sets the limit

On steep Tahoe lots, parking is usually the tighter constraint. Washoe and South Lake Tahoe both tie occupancy to four people per on-site space, and Placer requires every vehicle to be on-site or covered by an approved plan. Street parking doesn't count anywhere, and in winter it's often illegal during snow removal. When owners ask us how to raise a home's occupancy, the honest answer is usually a paved space, not another bed, and in the Tahoe Basin adding a space may need TRPA land coverage approval.

Do kids count toward maximum occupancy?

It depends entirely on the jurisdiction, and the differences are large:

• Washoe County: yes. A baby counts the same as an adult.
• Placer County: children under 12 are not counted, day or night.
• South Lake Tahoe: up to five children aged 13 and under are not counted (two in a studio). A sixth child counts.

An older version of this page said "two children under five" don't count everywhere. That isn't what any of the current ordinances say.

Do occupancy limits apply during the day?

In Washoe County, yes: the ordinance says daytime and nighttime limits are the same, and it defines a party as any gathering over the permitted occupancy. In South Lake Tahoe, occupancy counts everyone on the property at any given time. Placer County is the exception, allowing one and a half times the nighttime number during the day. In El Dorado County the enforced limit is the nighttime one. Either way, weddings and other events are prohibited at vacation rentals in all four jurisdictions. Placer County allows them only with a separate county event permit.

What happens when a rental is over its limit

• Placer County: the county can notice both the guest and the owner. If it isn't cured within the deadline, administrative penalties are $1,500, then $3,000, then $5,000 with a revocation hearing. Three notices of violation within 24 months bring a $1,500 citation to the owner even if each one was fixed. The 24/7 hotline is (530) 448-8003.
• Washoe County: violations are enforced under the county's nuisance and administrative enforcement codes, and the Sheriff's reports of parties over the approved occupancy can open an investigation. Three confirmed violations in one year revoke the permit automatically, with a one-year wait before the owner can get another.
• South Lake Tahoe: both occupants and owners can be cited for occupancy violations, citation amounts are set by council resolution, and three upheld citations within 24 months revoke the permit.

Guests should also expect the rental agreement to allow the host to end the stay without a refund for serious violations. At MG, our rental agreement states each home's maximum occupancy, and our check-in messages repeat it along with parking and quiet hours.

How owners should set and publish occupancy

1. Start from legal bedrooms. Pull the county assessor record and building permits. If a basement bedroom was never permitted, it can't be used for sleeping and adds no bedroom occupancy.
2. Measure your parking honestly. Count paved, on-site, dedicated spaces. Tandem spaces in a narrow driveway and snow-storage areas are where inspections disagree with owners.
3. Match the beds to the permit. Washoe listings must state beds, and beds can't exceed the maximum occupancy. Extra sleeper sofas invite over-occupancy.
4. Put the number everywhere. Listing, rental agreement, house manual, and the posted permit and house rules.
5. Think about winter. A space buried by a snow berm isn't a parking space. Placer requires snow removal for stays between December 1 and April 1.

If you're deciding which home to buy, the occupancy rules are worth modelling before you make an offer: a four-bedroom Placer house and a four-bedroom Washoe house with the same beds can carry very different permits. Real Estate Tahoe, our sister brokerage, can pull the records for a specific address.

For guests: how to check before you book

A legal listing shows its permit number and maximum occupancy. In Washoe County the permit number, tax license number, occupancy, bedrooms, beds and parking spaces must be at the top of the ad. If a house says it sleeps 16 but has three bedrooms and a single-car driveway, ask. Every MG home page lists its maximum guests, and for bigger families or friend groups our large-group rentals page lists the homes that take the most people. Our FAQs cover parking and quiet hours.

Where MG can help

We manage 41 homes in Washoe and Placer counties and work to these limits every day: occupancy on every listing, parking spelled out in every rental agreement, and a local contact who answers within the counties' response times. If you want your home's occupancy worked out properly before you list it, see our Lake Tahoe property management or Incline Village property management pages, read our county-by-county Lake Tahoe short-term rental permit guide, or contact us at (530) 317-0291.