Vacation Home Rentals (VHRs) in Lake Tahoe

Welcome to the main page for all you need to know about Vacation Home Rentals (VHRs) around Lake Tahoe.

Vacation Home Rentals (VHRs) are becoming more and more popular. There have been vacation rental properties in Lake Tahoe since the 1930’s and 1940’s. In fact we recently saw an ad from a San Francisco newspaper from 1942 that had an advertisement for a “Lake Tahoe Cabin for Rent for the Week”.

But the introduction of the internet, and specifically websites like AirBnB and VRBO, have made it easier to rent a vacation home. This, along with increased demand due to more people vacationing with families and friends, caused the number of VHRs in Tahoe to expand quickly over the past decade.

This quick expansion caused a lot of headaches for many locals who had been enjoying quiet neighborhoods with mostly vacant homes surrounding them. The locals went to the local governments to get relief from what they viewed as a negative impact VHRs were having on their neighborhoods and their peace and quiet enjoyment of Tahoe. So the 6 different local governments around the lake put in place strict rules and regulations for VHRs in their jurisdictions.

This page goes into detail on the rules and regulations for Vacation Rentals (aka Short Term Rentals) in each area around Lake Tahoe.

Up-To-Date Info

The situation regarding VHRs and the rules for them around the lake are constantly changing. Seems like every month there is some new rule. Sometimes it’s a minor change, other times it’s major and affects potential and current permit holders. Our team tries to stay up-to-date on everything going on with vacation rentals around the lake, and will update this page as often as possible to give you the best information possible. Some of our previous posts may be out of date, but do include additional information that expands on the information provided on this page.

Bookmark this page so you can check back and see if there are any more updates. Or give us a call/text at 530-541-2465 or send an email to amanda@paradise-realestate.com to get more detailed information.

The Basic Rules

Here are the basic rules that almost all areas have in place. Remember, these are not all of the rules, just a short list of the common rules that you will need to follow in most areas around Lake Tahoe.

• Occupancy Limits – they use the number of bedrooms and the number of parking spaces to determine how many occupants can be in the VHR. Some areas don’t count children under the age of 5, others count every person no matter their age. The norm for occupancy limits seems to be 2 people per bedroom plus 2 (or 4) additional persons. So a 3 bedroom house would have an occupancy limit of 8 (or 10 if +4).
• Parking – Almost all areas have rules on how many vehicles can be parking at a VHR. They inspect the property prior to issuing the VHR permit and then decide how many parking spaces there are on the the property (including garage spaces). Street parking is not included as available parking spaces in most cases and is not allowed even during summer. One of the most common fine VHR owners will receive is because their renters are parked on the street in front of the house. All vehicles MUST be on the property in the garage and/or on the driveway.
• Noise – VHRs are usually located in residential neighborhoods. Because of this, and the fact there are usually more occupants in a VHR compared to other homes, there are rules in place to limit the level of noise. There are also rules stating what times a hot tub can be used, since people end up talking loudly so they can be heard over the sound of the water jets and bubbles in the hot tub. Some areas require noise monitors to be installed in the property.
• Garbage – Tahoe has bears, a lot of bears! And although they are usually very friendly and leave us alone, they do love to get into our garbage whenever they get a chance. Most VHRs are required to have a bear box to hold the garbage cans. This makes it so a renter can put their garbage in the bear box when they leave. If bags are left at the street, the bears will consider that an invitation to a buffet and the next morning the garbage will be all over the place.
• Permits – Every area around Lake Tahoe requires a VHR to get a special permit. The cost of these permits varies greatly, and usually the more strict the rules are the higher the permit fee will be for that area. Most areas also have set a max Cap of how many permits they will allow. Those Caps have already been reached so now there are waiting lists for potential future permits.

Current Rules (as of 8/10/2022)

This information is given as informational only. No guarantee these are the actual current rules. You should verify with the local jurisdictions before making any decisions.

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For more information on VHRs, please give us a call or send us a message. Our Team is constantly getting updated information on this topic and will update our site with new blogs as the information changes.

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