Regulated by City of Morro Bay. Morro Bay requires an STR permit, a business licence and a Transient Occupancy Tax account before you operate, with annual renewal and an inspection every four years. New permits must also sit at least 175 feet from the next short-term rental, measured property line to property line. The city is currently running a permit audit and is approving no new STRs until it closes.
The city’s base Transient Occupancy Tax rate is 10%. Confirm current district assessments with the city before quoting a guest-facing total.
Worth knowing: a stay of 31 nights or longer is not a short-term rental, so permit caps and freezes do not reach it. We do not take on 31+ night rentals yet — that is licensed activity in California and we will offer it when ours issues. We would still rather you knew the option exists, so ask and we will point you the right way.
In Morro Bay an existing permit is genuinely valuable — it cannot currently be replaced, so the job is running it well and never missing a renewal. Your permit stays in your name either way. How switching works.
Morro Bay is a renewal-and-compliance market rather than an acquisition one, and that suits us — the 175-foot buffer means a lapsed permit can be near-impossible to recover, so the job is running it well and never missing a date. If you hold a Morro Bay permit, we would like to talk.
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Permit rules and tax rates change. Confirm current requirements with City of Morro Bay.