Fremont HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Fremont regulates short-term rentals in Municipal Code Chapter 5.100, adopted in January 2024. A short-term rental is a stay of less than 30 consecutive days, and operating one without a city permit is unlawful. The main limits in Chapter 5.100:

• The rental must be in the host’s primary residence. A host may have only one short-term rental in Fremont.
• There is no cap on the number of rental days in a year.
• No more than two guests per bedroom.
• An ADU or junior ADU may not be rented short-term.
• Guest parking must be on site or otherwise off the public street. This rule does not apply in the city’s transit-oriented development overlay districts.
• A local contact must be available at all hours and respond in person to complaints within 60 minutes.
• After the permit is approved, the host notifies properties within 100 feet.
• Weddings, corporate events and parties are not allowed.

Here is the part boards need to know. Section 5.100.040 says CC&Rs may prohibit short-term rentals, and that every new permit application requires a written approval letter from an HOA that has authority over the property. The application also includes a letter from the owner asking your board to say whether the CC&Rs allow short-term rentals. So expect owners to ask you for a letter, and decide in advance who answers and what the answer is.

The city’s permit page says operators remit a 10% transient occupancy tax each month. It does not list a permit fee, so ask Code Enforcement at (510) 494-4430. California Civil Code section 4741 limits how far an association can restrict rentals generally, but it does not stop an association from prohibiting rentals of 30 days or less.

The city’s ADU rules are in section 18.190.005, last amended in May 2026. A new attached ADU may have up to 1,000 square feet of interior living space and a new detached ADU up to 1,200 square feet. Junior ADUs are capped at 500 square feet. Detached units are generally limited to 16 feet in height, or 18 feet near major transit, with 4-foot side and rear setbacks. An ADU or junior ADU may not be rented for less than 30 days and may not be sold separately from the main home.

For boards, the state rule matters more than the city one. Civil Code section 4751 voids CC&R provisions that prohibit or unreasonably restrict an ADU or junior ADU on a lot zoned for single-family use. An association can still apply reasonable restrictions through its architectural review process.

Fremont has its own balcony inspection ordinance, Chapter 8.85, adopted in May 2025. It carries out two state laws, including Civil Code section 5551 for common interest developments, and adds a city filing step. It covers buildings with three or more units, condominiums included, that have balconies, decks, stairways or walkways more than six feet above the ground and supported mainly by wood.

If your association has not confirmed that its report was filed with the city, call Code Enforcement at (510) 494-4430 and ask what is on file for your address.

The city’s street parking rules are in Chapter 10.05:

The neighborhood preservation chapter (section 8.60.040) also lists commercial vehicles parked or stored in a residential district, and inoperable vehicles kept outside an enclosed structure, as nuisances. These street rules are written for public streets. If your association owns its streets, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and by state towing law, so confirm with Fremont Police what the city will and will not enforce inside your community.

Fremont’s water comes from the Alameda County Water District, not the city. ACWD’s board adopted a new water waste ordinance, No. 2026-01, on October 8, 2026. It replaced the 2008 ordinance, took effect immediately, and applies all year whether or not there is a drought. It does not set watering days. The main rules:

Two points matter for the budget. First, ACWD’s Commercial Water-Efficient Landscape Rebate is open to HOA customers: $2 per square foot of lawn converted, up to $20,000 per site, with at least 200 square feet converted. You must receive a Notice to Proceed before any work starts, and you then have 120 days to finish. Funds are limited and first come, first served. ACWD also offers multi-family and HOA customers up to $30 per active station toward a weather-based irrigation controller, with written approval before purchase. Second, a state law passed in 2023 (AB 1572) will bar the use of drinking water on nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas starting January 1, 2029, and ACWD’s new ordinance repeats that date. A board with decorative lawn can use the rebate to pay for part of a conversion it will have to make anyway. Call ACWD Water Conservation at (510) 668-4218 before you plan the project.

On owners’ lots, Civil Code section 4735 prevents an association from banning low-water plants or artificial turf as a replacement for lawn.

Chapter 18.215 protects many private trees, and it reaches further than most boards expect. A city permit is needed to remove or damage a tree that is:

• 18 inches or more in trunk diameter, of any species.
• 10 inches or more, if it is a native tree such as an oak, redwood, buckeye, sycamore or bay, or a species the code lists as well adapted to Fremont.
• Planted or kept as a condition of a city development approval, at any size.
• One of six or more trees of the same species on the same lot, each 6 inches or more.

The third item is the one that catches associations. Trees the city required your project to plant or keep must be kept healthy and replaced if they die (section 18.215.060). The code’s exemption for small residential lots covers back and side yard trees on single-family lots of 10,000 square feet or less. It does not mention common area. The city’s tree permit page says HOAs always need a permit to remove, prune or plant a tree near a sidewalk or street.

Apply at least 15 days before the work. The standard replacement is one 24-inch box tree for each tree removed. Fines for unpermitted removal run from $250 to $1,000 per offense, and the tree service and the lot owner are both liable. Landmark trees need City Council approval.

Chapter 8.25 requires owners to keep their land, and the public right-of-way next to it, free of weeds and waste. The code says a homeowners association that controls a common area is treated as its owner. The neighborhood preservation chapter adds that weeds over four inches in a yard or planter strip, and vegetation that blocks a sidewalk, are nuisances. If the city does the cleanup, unpaid costs can become a lien collected with the property tax bill.

The Fire Department runs a separate weed and vegetation program for undeveloped parcels, open lots and fields. In 2026 it mailed notices on May 1, set a compliance deadline of June 16 and began inspections on June 17. Associations that own open space should expect that notice and budget for the work.

In July 2025 the City Council adopted the State Fire Marshal’s updated fire hazard severity zones in Chapter 15.65, along with areas the city itself first designated very high hazard in 2007. Look up your common-area addresses on the city’s map, and ask the Fire Department at (510) 494-4200 what applies to each zone.

Section 18.160.010 sets construction hours. Within 500 feet of homes, construction is limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and holidays, with none on Sundays. Resident owners working on their own single-family detached home get longer hours. The noise ordinance, Chapter 9.25, has no decibel limits. It bars sustained use of motors and machines between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and exempts residential property maintenance done between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Put those hours in your landscape and construction contracts. Your own rules can set shorter hours.