In Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a listing can show years of vacation-rental bookings, a permit number on the door and current bed-tax filings, and none of it passes to the buyer at closing. Encinitas's short-term rental code says the permit applies only to the people named on the application and is non-transferable. Within 14 days of a change in ownership, the new owner has to file a new application and pay the fee to keep operating. No one may rent, offer or advertise a short-term rental without a valid permit issued by the city.
That means a Cardiff home's rental history belongs to the seller. Whether the buyer can rebuild that income depends on a new application, and on rules the city adopted in 2022 that still have not taken effect. The pending rule most likely to stop a Cardiff application is the 200-foot spacing requirement between non-hosted rentals. The citywide cap is much less likely to.
Fourteen days, and then a new file
The 14-day clause in Chapter 9.38 of the Encinitas Municipal Code puts a deadline on the first weeks of ownership. The code also says a change-of-ownership request made to avoid fines, a suspension or a revocation will be automatically denied. The application asks for the owner's legal name and a 24-hour local contact, the number of on-site parking spaces, fire-safety self-certification, a signed statement that private governing documents allow the use, and proof of at least $1,000,000 in liability insurance for the rental. If that insurance lapses during the permit term, the permit is automatically revoked unless the city receives proof of renewal first.
So a buyer who plans to keep a Cardiff rental running is not taking over an operation. They are starting a new permit application, on a deadline that begins at closing.
What changes when Ordinance 2026-15 takes effect
The Encinitas City Council adopted Ordinance 2026-15 on Oct. 14, 2026, by a 5–0 vote, according to the city's adoption notice in The Coast News. The ordinance takes effect 30 days after passage, which puts it at about Nov. 13. The Sept. 23 staff report lists the changes:
| Change | What the staff report says it does |
|---|---|
| Renewal cycle | Permits move from one-year to three-year renewals |
| Inactivity | A permit may be revoked after 12 months of inactivity, tracked through bed-tax collection |
| Posting | The permit must be posted where it can be seen from the public right-of-way at all times |
| Platform tax collection | Booking platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO can collect the transient occupancy tax and pay it directly to the city |
| Listing identifiers | Listings must show the city STR permit number and TOT certification number |
| Platform reporting | Platforms send quarterly or monthly reports with address, parcel number, listing URL, nights per reservation and gross cost |
The platform provisions apply Senate Bill 346, the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025. It lets cities that adopt an ordinance require booking platforms to report rental information and collect occupancy tax. At the first reading, Kimberly Jackson of Vacation Rentals by Kimberly told the council, "I'm very grateful we're going to the three-year (permits)," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The inactivity clause matters most in a sale. A rental that sat unbooked through a long listing period or an estate settlement can be revoked under this ordinance, and the city tracks that through the bed-tax records platforms will now report directly.
In Cardiff, the 200-foot buffer is the tighter limit
The other half of the 2022 package is Ordinance 2022-16, the zoning amendments. It sets two caps on non-hosted rentals. West of Interstate 5, in the communities the ordinance names as Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Leucadia and Old Encinitas, permits may not exceed 4% of total housing units. Citywide, the limit is 2.5%.
The cap leaves plenty of room. Citing city data, The Coast News reported on May 1, 2026 that Encinitas had 251 non-hosted rentals citywide and 207 west of I-5, or 2.2% of the housing stock there. In February, The Coast News reported that the 4% cap equals about 376 non-hosted rentals west of I-5, which would allow 147 more than existed then.
The same ordinance requires 200 feet between non-hosted rentals, measured property line to property line. On Cardiff's small lots, that radius can take in many neighboring parcels. City data in the California Coastal Commission's January 2026 staff report shows about 148 non-hosted rentals already within 200 feet of another one, not counting Seabluffe. The report says an existing grandfathered rental in good standing blocks a new non-hosted permit within 200 feet "until the grandfathered permit expires and is not renewed."
Cardiff rental operator Nicole Jackson, who runs two rentals in a duplex, told the Coastal Commission the buffer does not fit the area, The Coast News reported. "In Cardiff Village, it's incompatible with how the city has laid it out," she said. "It is an effective ban in the neighborhood that will restrict entire blocks for one permit."
For a buyer, the 2.2% figure shows the area is nowhere near the cap. Under the pending rules, what decides whether a new non-hosted permit is possible is whether another non-hosted rental already operates within 200 feet. The city's Short-term Rental Permit Viewer maps permitted rentals and is updated every two weeks.
How the grandfather clause reads when a house sells
Ordinance 2022-16 protects existing legal non-hosted rentals that fall inside the 200-foot buffer. They become "legal nonconforming" and stay eligible for renewal if the unit has had no revocation or unresolved enforcement issues and is current on transient occupancy tax. The clause covers renewal. It says nothing about a change of ownership.
The city's November 2022 staff report described the grandfathering as letting existing permitted rentals keep renewing. The same report says Chapter 9.38's non-transferability rule "will remain as such." The ordinance's spacing clause covers renewals, and the code treats a sale as a new application. Before going under contract on a Cardiff home bought partly for its rental history, it makes sense to get the city planning staff's answer in writing on how a new owner's application would be treated once Chapter 30.50 takes effect. The city's project manager for STR policy is Associate Planner Charlotte Brenner.
The Coastal Commission report notes that an owner who cannot get a non-hosted permit "may still receive a permit for the short-term rental as a hosted unit." Under the pending rules, the caps and the buffer do not apply to hosted rentals, and hosted rentals have no minimum stay.
Why the caps and buffer are still pending
The Coastal Commission has to certify the caps and buffer, and the two sides disagree over the minimum stay.
- December 2022. Council adopts the two ordinances with the caps, the 200-foot buffer and renewal language.
- Feb. 5, 2026. The Coastal Commission approves the package with one change, cutting the three-night minimum for non-hosted rentals to two nights.
- April 22, 2026. Council votes 3-2 to reject that change. Shaffer, Deputy Mayor Jim O'Hara and Marco San Antonio vote in favor. Joy Lyndes and Mayor Bruce Ehlers are opposed.
- Sept. 23 and Oct. 14, 2026. Council introduces and then adopts the enforcement and tax provisions as Ordinance 2026-15. Under the staff report, those Title 9 changes do not need Coastal Commission review.
- Next. Staff will bring back the caps, the 200-foot buffer and new data supporting the three-night minimum, then file a new application with the Coastal Commission.
Before the April vote, Lyndes put the choice this way to The Coast News: "Is it more important for us to have the cap and the 200-foot radius or to double down and say, 'We're going to keep the three nights for non-hosted?'" Councilmember Luke Shaffer said the three-night minimum was "a much greater deterrent to a certain type of group." In the meantime, the three-night minimum for non-hosted rentals stays in place. The caps and the buffer remain pending until the city refiles.
What to ask for in a Cardiff seller's file
If rental income is part of why you are considering a Cardiff property, ask for these before you write an offer:
- Whose name is on the permit, and whether the rental is hosted or non-hosted. The buyer starts over either way, but which type it is decides whether the pending buffer applies.
- Bed-tax filing history. Being current on TOT is a condition for grandfathered renewal, and inactivity is now tracked through those payments.
- The last booking date. Under Ordinance 2026-15, a permit inactive for 12 months can be revoked, which matters for estate and probate sales that sit for a while before listing.
- Non-hosted rentals within 200 feet. Check the city's permit viewer against the parcel lines.
- Which unit is being rented. Encinitas defines a short-term rental to exclude accessory dwelling units as state law defines them, so an ADU on the property is not a path to a vacation rental.
- The HOA's governing documents, if there is one, since the permit application requires a signed statement that private rules allow the use.
FAQ
Is there a cap on Encinitas short-term rentals right now? No. When the Coastal Commission heard the city's package in February, Assistant Director of Community Development Meagan Openshaw said, "Today, we don't have any caps," according to The Coast News. The caps remain part of the zoning amendments staff will bring back to the council.
How many permitted short-term rentals does Encinitas have? The city's STR page listed 443 permitted rentals as of May 15, 2025, with 79.5% west of I-5. On May 1, 2026, The Coast News cited city data showing 319. The number changes as enforcement continues. By the end of August 2026, the city's enforcement work had reduced advertised unpermitted listings by about 99.
Does Seabluffe follow the same rules? The pending ordinance excludes the 255 units in Seabluffe, in Leucadia, from the west-of-I-5 cap. The 2022 staff report says Seabluffe is also excluded from the 200-foot buffer. Those exclusions do not cover Cardiff.
This post is general information about published city rules, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm how these rules apply to a specific property with the City of Encinitas and your own attorney or tax professional.
If you are weighing a Cardiff home with a rental history, or selling one as part of an estate or a move, Mike Williams and the San Diego Coastal Home Team can help you collect the permit, bed-tax and spacing details early, before they affect your price or your timeline. Schedule a tailored consultation to go through the file together.
