Vacation Home Rentals Rules Change in South Lake Tahoe, CA

There have been a lot of changes with the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) policies in the City of South Lake Tahoe, CA. After a judge threw out Measure T, the ballot initiative that had banned VHRs in the City limits, the City had to rush to come up with a plan. Many thought the judge would just rule against parts of Measure T, but in the end the judge threw the whole thing out.

That was a bit of a surprise to the City and others. This caused them to scramble a bit to get something in place quickly to fill the gap and give guidance to City staff as well as home owners. On June 17, 2025 the City Council adopted an ordinance amending the VHR regulations and provided for an initial application period to be open only to prior VHR and Qualified VHR permittees.

So what are the new rules?

TIMEFRAME & INFO

The new ordinance goes into effect July 17th, 2025. Although the City will not issue permits prior to July 17th, they will begin an initial 60 day VHR permit application period starting on June 23rd.

This initial application period will only be for applicants in good standing whose previous VHR permits at the same properties expired in 2021 and were not renewed at that time because of Measure T, as well as previous QVHR permittees in good standing whose permits became void in April 2025 because of the court’s ruling in the Measure T lawsuit.

After the initial 60-day period applications will be accepted from applications not in these categories. VHR applications will only be accepted through the online portal that will be active at 9am on June 23rd, 2025 on the Cities website here: https://cityofslt.us/2417/Applications-Forms-and-Templates

No permits will be issued by the City of South Lake Tahoe prior to July 17th, 2025.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

If you had a VHR permit on your property before Measure T and it expired in 2021, or you had a qualified VHR permit that was voided in 2025, you can apply via the Cities website starting on June 23rd.

If you didn’t have a VHR permit previously and don’t meet the criteria above, then you must wait. Based on what the City Council has said publicly as well as privately, they will decide if they will open it up to the public as well as how many additional permits they will allow after they see how many of the original permit holders come forward to get new permits.

So it sounds like we have to wait until at least the days after July 17th before we know if and when they will open up the VHR permits to others. Feel free to reach out to our Team to stay up-to-date.

LINKS FOR MORE INFO

For the full City website with this information & links, click here: City of South Lake Tahoe Measure T & VHR Permit Updates

For more information on VHR’s in South Lake Tahoe and the other areas around the Lake, click here: Vacation Home Rental Rules Around Lake Tahoe