I wish to rent out a home that I own in 29 Palms California, by the week, as a vacation rental. Is there a limit to the number of consecutive weeks that the same individual(s) can rent the property and still be considered 'vacation tenants', and if they do not vacate the property on the agreed day, do I run the risk of having to go through the standard eviction process? I may want to occupy the property myself in the near future, and do not want to rent it out on a long-term basis. Thank you.

I am not well versed on Calif. Landlord / tenant law, much less how it translates to vacation rentals. I did want to let you know that there's a "sticky" at the top of this forum that has a link to each state's LL / tenant law, and that might be a good place for you to start.

I understand your concern, but have never heard of that being a common problem in the vacation rental arena. Do you have reason to believe there will be longer-term rentals, or is it just something that crossed your mind?

I think a rule of thumb, is, if you spend more than half the year at an address its considered your primary residence.

As for staying beyond the contracted time, yes you would have to go through formal eviction. So one recalcitrant tenant could cost you big bucks in cancelled bookings.

If you want to do this, I would engage a property manager who can make sure you are getting reputable tenants.