Is your San Diego vacation rental legal? How to check its license before you book
Ask the host for the STRO license number, then look it up on the City's active-license list or map. Mission Beach's whole-home cap is full, so an unlicensed whole house there is a red flag. This applies inside City of San Diego limits only.
- Where to check
- City license list & map
- Mission Beach whole-home
- Cap full
- Whole-home minimum
- 2 nights
- Noise complaints
- 619-533-6489
Active STRO Licenses, on the City's open data
Tier 4 is closed
Tiers 3 and 4
Or the Get It Done app
The short version
- Short-term rentals of less than a month inside City of San Diego limits need a Short-Term Residential Occupancy (STRO) license.
- Anyone can check a license on the City's Active STRO Licenses list or its interactive STRO license map.
- Mission Beach's whole-home tier (Tier 4) is capped at 30% of the neighborhood's homes and is closed to new licenses.
- Whole-home rentals (Tiers 3 and 4) have a two-night minimum stay.
- Licensed hosts must post an 8.5 x 11 inch sign, visible from the street, with the license number and a local contact.
Since May 2023, every short-term rental inside the City of San Diego needs a license, and the number of whole-home licenses is capped. That's a host's problem, until a listing is pulled and your summer week in Mission Beach disappears with it. Checking takes two minutes. Here's how, using the City's own STRO pages, checked October 6, 2026.
Check a listing in four steps
- 01
Get the license number
Look in the listing description, or ask the host before you pay. Host guides say the number should appear on every platform listing. A host who won't share it is your answer.
- 02
Look it up
Search the City's Active STRO Licenses list on its open-data portal, or find the address on the interactive STRO license map.
- 03
Match the details
The address should match, and the tier should fit what you're booking: a whole house needs a whole-home license (Tier 3 citywide, Tier 4 in Mission Beach).
- 04
Check the sign when you arrive
Licensed homes must display an 8.5 x 11 inch notice, in bold 20-point capitals, visible from the street, with the license number and a local contact for problems.
The four license tiers
| Tier | What it covers | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Part-time: 20 days a year or less | Unlimited |
| Tier 2 | Home-sharing: the host lives there | Unlimited |
| Tier 3 | Whole home, citywide outside Mission Beach | Capped at about 1% of housing units; 807 left |
| Tier 4 | Whole home in Mission Beach | Capped at 30% of units; closed |
City of San Diego STRO program page, checked October 6, 2026.
Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Chula Vista are separate cities with their own short-term rental rules, so this check only works inside City of San Diego limits. Staying somewhere noisy? Call the local contact on the sign first; unresolved problems go to the City through Get It Done or 619-533-6489. On the host side of this, see Can I rent out my San Diego home on Airbnb?. Hotel guests pay transient occupancy tax, and short-term renters do too.
SOURCES
Everything above traces back to one of these. Follow them — if one has changed and we haven't, that's our mistake, not yours.
City of San Diego · Checked October 6, 2026
Signage rules, license list and map, tiers and caps, two-night minimum, complaints
West Coast Homestays · Checked October 6, 2026
Host guidance that the license number appears on listings