Unincorporated Marin HOA Guide: County Rules for Boards

Renting a home for fewer than 30 days in unincorporated Marin takes a county short-term rental license (chapter 5.41), a business license and a transient occupancy tax certificate. Licenses are capped at 1,200 countywide, excluding Dillon Beach, and applicants must join a waitlist and wait to be invited. A new license costs $600, or $300 for a primary home, and licenses renew every two years. Under the county’s February 2025 procedures, each rental unit on a property needs its own license and certain ADUs are not eligible. The occupancy tax is 10%, or 14% in West Marin. Short-term rental program: (415) 473-2478.

The county’s procedures make a signage exception for rentals in HOAs that banned signs as of January 1, 2025. 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 county’s native tree rules protect oaks, willows, madrone and Sargent cypress at 6 inches in diameter (heritage at 18 inches), and coast redwood, Douglas fir, California bay, buckeye and several other natives at 10 inches (heritage at 30 inches). Exemptions in section 22.62.040 include removing up to two protected trees a year on a developed lot (not heritage trees), trees a fire inspector identifies as a fire hazard and trees in poor health or at risk of falling. The rules do not apply in the coastal zone, where a coastal permit may be needed instead. Where replanting is not feasible, the in-lieu fee is $500 per replacement tree.

The county’s just-cause eviction rules (chapter 5.100) and its rental registry apply only to properties in unincorporated Marin with at least three dwelling units on one parcel. A single-family home or a single condo unit on its own parcel would not meet that threshold, though the county’s pages do not address condominiums directly. Covered owners must register each year. Just-cause notices: (415) 473-7309.

The Sheriff’s Office enforces parking in unincorporated areas and says vehicles may park for no more than 72 hours (county code section 15.36.030). Area permits lettered A, Q or W allow longer parking on matching signed streets. We could not read the county’s rules on RVs, boats and trailers, so ask the Sheriff before you rely on a county rule. Your association’s rules can be stricter.

We could not read the county code online, so we could not check whether any private roads are designated for Vehicle Code enforcement. Where no designation exists, enforcing parking and speed rules on association-owned streets usually falls to the association, so ask the Sheriff’s Office whether any roads in your community are designated.

The Community Development Agency’s code compliance staff handle building, zoning and land use violations in unincorporated Marin. Complaints go in by online form, email or mail to 3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 308, San Rafael, and anonymous complaints are not accepted. The county says investigations can take several months.

The Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District works through local zones. Zone 3 covers southern Marin and Richardson Bay, Zone 4A covers Strawberry Circle under a 2002 special tax, Zone 7 covers Santa Venetia’s pump station and levee and Zone 9 covers the Ross Valley, including Kentfield and Greenbrae. The Zone 9 storm drainage fee, approved in 2007, is on the tax bill and expires June 30, 2027.

Marin voters approved Measure C in March 2020, a 10-year parcel tax of up to 10 cents per square foot of building or $75 per multifamily unit, to fund the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. Its inspectors and local fire departments run defensible-space and home-hardening evaluations, but enforcing the rules is up to your local fire agency.

Areas served by Tiburon Fire are outside the authority, because that district did not join it.

Defensible-space rules and deadlines come from the fire agency that serves your area, which in unincorporated Marin may be the County Fire Department or a local fire district. The county’s fire pages would not open for us, so ask your fire agency for the current rules.

Marin Water’s year-round rules bar irrigation between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. and during or within 48 hours after rain. Overhead sprinklers may run up to two days a week and drip systems up to three. A violation brings a written warning, then a $25 fine and then $250. Its Water Watch page showed no water shortage stage when we checked.

Marin Water’s Cash for Grass rebate pays $2.18 per square foot, or $3.68 when at least half the new planting is California-native and low-water. A limited-time rain garden bonus can raise it to $4.68. Pre-approval and a pre-inspection are required before any lawn comes out, and artificial turf does not qualify. The cap is 1,000 square feet for homeowners and 5,000 for business owners, and the program page does not say which cap applies to an HOA common-area meter, so ask the conservation team at (415) 945-1527. Commercial and multifamily accounts can also apply for a Custom Rebate before starting a project.

Areas served by North Marin Water District follow that district’s rules and rebates instead, which pay HOA common areas up to $100 per unit for lawn removal.

A state law passed in 2023 (AB 1572) bars the use of drinking water on nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas starting January 1, 2029. The law stops the watering; it does not require removing the lawn. A board that decides to replace decorative lawn can use a rebate, where one is offered, to pay for part of the conversion.

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