Mountain View HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Since January 1, 2022, Mountain View has prohibited smoking in multi-unit residences, and the rule covers owner-occupied condominiums and townhomes as well as apartments. It is in Chapter 21, Article II of the City Code and applies to any property with three or more attached units. Single-family homes and duplexes are exempt.

The city’s notices and handout say smoking and vaping, of tobacco or cannabis, are not allowed:

• Inside individual units.
• On private balconies and patios.
• In all indoor and outdoor common areas, including parking lots.
• Within 25 feet of any operable door, window, opening or vent, including those of a neighboring multi-unit property.

This is one of the few city rules that gives an association its own to-do list. The city’s handout for owners, managers and HOAs says to post No Smoking signs at entrances and in common areas, remove ashtrays and other smoking waste receptacles and keep common areas free of smoking waste. A designated smoking area is optional. If you create one, it must be outdoors, take up less than 10% of the unenclosed common area, sit at least 25 feet from doors, windows, vents, play areas and exercise areas such as pools, and have its own receptacles and signs.

Owners who rent out a unit have a separate duty: new, renewed and month-to-month leases must include a copy of the ordinance and a description of any designated smoking area. The city expects owners, managers and HOAs to try to resolve a complaint first, through the lease or the CC&Rs. If that fails, the Fire and Environmental Protection Division at (650) 903-6378 investigates, and the handout lists penalties of $100, $200 and $500 for a first, second and third offense within a year. The city’s staff report says code enforcement handles townhome cases, and that owners and operators are not liable for the conduct of residents.

Every Mountain View property used or advertised as a short-term rental must register with the city. A short-term rental is a room or unit offered for 30 or fewer consecutive days. The owner, or a tenant with a written agreement, can be the operator. The main rules on the city’s short-term rental page:

• Registration takes a city business license, a transient occupancy tax registration and a signed self-certification, and it is renewed every year.
• Unhosted rentals, where the operator is not on the property, are capped at 60 days a year.
• Hosted rentals, where the operator is on the property throughout the stay, have no yearly cap. An ADU can count as hosted if the operator is in the main home.
• No more than 10 occupants.
• No weddings, parties, corporate gatherings or similar events during a stay.
• Operators of unhosted rentals must give the city and adjacent neighbors a local contact who can respond within 60 minutes.

Operators collect the 10% transient occupancy tax under Chapter 33 of the City Code and file returns every quarter, even when a booking platform collects the tax. The city posts a fee and fine schedule each year, and it runs a complaint hotline for non-emergency problems at (650) 282-1998.

A city registration does not override your CC&Rs. 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.

Mountain View voters adopted the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act (CSFRA) as Measure V in 2016. It limits rent increases and requires a just cause to end a tenancy, and the city’s Rent Stabilization Division says it covers most apartments in buildings with three or more units. Boards in a city where most households rent get asked whether it reaches their owners’ rented units.

The city’s own list of exempt units answers most of that. It names condominiums, single-family homes on a parcel with no other residential units, duplexes, companion units and units with a first certificate of occupancy after December 23, 2016. Short-term rentals are not subject to the CSFRA either.

What this means for your board: the CSFRA is not a tool for the association, and it does not change what your CC&Rs say about leasing. Other landlord-tenant laws can still apply to an owner who rents out a unit, so an owner with a question about a specific tenancy should call the Rent Stabilization Division at (650) 903-6136 or talk with an attorney. The smoking ordinance above is one city rule that does add lease terms for rented condos and townhomes.

Mountain View protects large trees on private property as heritage trees, and the size test is a low one for three species. The city defines a heritage tree as:

• Any oak, redwood or cedar with a trunk 12 inches or more in circumference, measured 54 inches above natural grade.
• Any other tree with a trunk 48 inches or more in circumference at the same height.
• A multi-trunk tree that measures 48 inches just below the first major fork.
• A grove the City Council has designated as heritage.

Twelve inches of circumference is a trunk less than 4 inches across, so many young redwoods and oaks in common areas already qualify. A permit is required to remove a heritage tree or a street tree, and the city says that includes a heritage tree that is dead or has fallen. The single-family and duplex pages say a tree that is neither a heritage tree nor a street tree can be removed without a permit. For multifamily and nonresidential property the city lists separate categories, and heritage tree removal needs a permit whether or not any construction is planned.

Applications are filed online. The Urban Forestry route costs $116 plus $58 for each additional tree at the same address and typically takes about 30 days, with a notice posted on the tree for at least 10 days. Applications that go through Planning cost $728 and typically take 60 to 90 days because of a public hearing. Each heritage tree removed must be replaced with two new trees, or an in-lieu fee is paid if replanting on site is not feasible. Removing one without a permit brings a penalty per tree that the city says can reach tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the tree’s assessed value.

Ask Urban Forestry at (650) 903-6273 which route applies to your common area before your vendor is scheduled, and build the lead time into the work order.

Mountain View’s street parking rules matter most to attached communities, where guest and overflow parking ends up on the public street:

The narrow-streets rule has exceptions, including oversized vehicles loading or unloading at an adjacent home or business for up to 60 minutes and wheelchair-accessible vans with a disabled placard. To report a vehicle that has not moved, call the Abandoned Vehicle Hotline at (650) 903-6358.

These rules are written for public streets. On private property, the Police Department says owners generally handle their own parking restrictions, and a vehicle can be towed from a private lot only if tow-away signs are posted at each entrance. If your association owns its streets or alleys, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and by state towing law.

Mountain View runs its own water utility. The city says about 87% of its supply comes from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, about 10% from Valley Water and about 3% from city wells. Small portions of the city are served by a private water company, so check which name is on your common-area bills.

The city is in normal supply conditions. The City Council rescinded its Stage 2 water shortage emergency on May 23, 2023, and the city’s regulations page lists no mandatory watering days. These rules for drinking water apply at all times:

• No runoff onto paved areas such as gutters, sidewalks and streets.
• No letting broken equipment waste water, and leaks must be fixed within ten days of noticing them.
• No washing paved surfaces or vehicles with a hose unless it has an automatic shutoff sprayer.

Lawn conversion rebates come from Valley Water, not the city. These are the amounts Valley Water lists:

Landscape and irrigation rebates together are capped at $100,000 for commercial sites and multifamily sites of five or more units, and at $3,000 for single-family homes and properties of four or fewer units (higher in some cost-sharing areas). Valley Water’s page does not list HOAs as their own category, so ask the Water Conservation Hotline at (408) 630-2554 where your common-area account fits. The site needs a pre-inspection and a written Notice to Proceed before any lawn is removed or materials are bought, and current funding runs until June 30, 2027 or until it is used up.

That money is worth chasing. 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. A board with decorative lawn can use the rebates to pay for part of a conversion it will have to make anyway. On owners’ lots, Civil Code section 4735 prevents an association from banning low-water plants or artificial turf as a replacement for lawn.

One more local point: the city’s Recycled Water Ordinance requires recycled water for landscape irrigation in the North Bayshore Area. Each site that uses it needs a trained Site Supervisor and an annual self-inspection report. The city notes that recycled water carries more salts than drinking water, that redwoods are sensitive to it and that it is not restricted during a drought. The Recycled Water Program is at (650) 903-6329.

The city’s ADU page sets the size limits at 850 square feet for a studio or one-bedroom unit and 1,000 square feet for a larger one, with junior ADUs capped at 500 square feet inside the walls of the home. Side and rear setbacks are 4 feet. On a lot with existing multifamily housing, the city allows ADUs inside parts of a building that are not used as living space, up to 25% of the existing units, and up to eight detached ADUs as long as they do not outnumber the existing units.

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. In a condominium or rowhouse project, where the land around the homes is usually common area, ask the association’s attorney how the city’s multifamily ADU rules and your documents fit together before answering an owner. Planning is at (650) 903-6306.

Mountain View’s construction hours are shorter than many cities’: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Building Division says no work is permitted on Saturday without prior written approval from the Chief Building Official, and none on Sundays or recognized holidays. Construction activity includes deliveries of materials. Work in the public street or sidewalk is limited to 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Put those hours in your reroofing, paving and repair contracts. Your own rules can set shorter hours.

We did not find a citywide ban on gas-powered leaf blowers on the city’s website. A city sustainability article says gas-powered equipment may not be used before 7 a.m. under the noise regulations. Confirm the current rule with Code Enforcement at (650) 526-7713 before you write landscape hours into a contract.

Mountain View also adopts its own additions to the state building code. The City Council approved the latest set on September 9, 2025 (Ordinance No. 9.2025), effective January 1, 2026. Two of the reach code items listed by the city touch association projects: electrical pre-wiring when a remodel or addition installs gas or propane equipment, including in multifamily buildings, and bird-safe glass on new construction and major renovations of multifamily buildings where glazing is installed or replaced. Ask the Building Division at (650) 903-6313 what applies before you bid a window, mechanical or balcony project.

Santa Clara County runs a Weed Abatement Program for cities that contract with it, and Mountain View is not on its list of participating cities. Do not expect the county’s annual notice here. Overgrowth and other property maintenance problems go to the city’s Code Enforcement Division, which enforces property maintenance, zoning and building codes, at (650) 526-7713.

The Fire Department also runs a Multi-Family Housing Inspection Program under Chapter 25 of the City Code. It covers buildings with three or more dwelling units, with a goal of inspecting each one at least once every five years against the building, fire and property maintenance codes. The city’s page does not say how the program treats owner-occupied condominiums, so ask the Multi-Family Housing Inspector at (650) 903-6450 whether your buildings are on the schedule and what the inspector looks at in common areas.