San Jose HOA Guide
The Villages HOA Guide: Three Boards, One 55+ Community
The Villages Golf and Country Club is a gated 55+ community on about 1,200 acres in the Evergreen foothills of San Jose. It has 2,309 condominiums, 227 single-family homes and about 4,000 residents, and it is run by three separate corporations, each with its own board.
This independent guide explains how the pieces fit together, for owners, buyers and anyone thinking of serving on a committee or one of the boards. How2HOA is not affiliated with The Villages or any of its corporations, and this page describes only what public sources show.
Facts on this page were checked against the community’s public website and published notices, City of San Jose pages, county and regional agency pages and California statutes on October 10, 2026. Figures the community posts can change, so confirm current numbers with the Business Office. For citywide rules, see the San Jose HOA Guide. Sources are listed at the bottom of the page.
At a glance
The community at a glance
The scale is the first thing to understand. With more than 2,500 homes, private roads, its own gate staff, a restaurant and two golf courses, The Villages runs more like a small town with a club attached than like a typical neighborhood HOA. The second thing is that there is no single association. Which corporations you belong to depends on what kind of home you own.
Three corporations, three boards
The Club’s resource guide says every owner is a member of the Club, and is also a member of either the Association or the Homeowners’ Corporation. So a condominium owner deals with two corporations and two boards, and so does the owner of a single-family home. Here is how the public record divides the work:
All three hold their annual membership meetings together. In 2025 the meetings were on June 11 at the Clubhouse, with ballots counted at an open meeting the day before. Directors on all three boards were being elected to three-year terms. Contested seats are not a given: the Association had one qualified candidate for two open seats in 2025, and its notice said that candidate could be declared elected by acclamation, without a ballot for the seat.
If you are thinking of running, read the election rules of the corporation you would serve. The Association’s published candidate rules, for example, disqualify a nominee who has been a member for less than one year, who is behind on regular or special assessments, or who co-owns a home with another nominee or sitting director. They also bar write-in candidates and nominations from the floor, so the nomination deadline is the real deadline.
For owners, the practical point is to send a question to the right board. A roof or exterior paint question on a condominium belongs to the Association. A question about the golf course, a pool, a road or the gate belongs to the Club. Because the Club also serves as management agent, the same staff may answer both, but the budgets, reserves and decisions are separate.
The age rule
The community describes itself as a 55+ community. Its public pages do not spell out the full occupancy rule, such as who may live with a resident aged 55 or older, how long younger guests may stay or what happens when the older resident dies. Those details are in the governing documents, so we do not state them here.
What we can describe is the state law those documents work within. California Civil Code section 51.3 covers senior citizen housing developments of at least 35 homes. In outline:
- A qualifying resident is a person aged 55 or older in a senior citizen housing development.
- A qualified permanent resident is someone who was living with the qualifying resident and is at least 45, or is that person’s spouse, cohabitant or primary provider of physical or financial support. A disabled child or grandchild who needs to live with the senior can also qualify.
- A qualified permanent resident may go on living in the home after the older resident dies, is hospitalized, is absent for a long period or divorces.
- The governing documents must let people under 55 stay as guests for at least 60 days a year.
- A live-in caregiver can be a permitted health care resident while care is being provided, with limits on staying during the senior’s absence.
That is the legal floor and frame, not The Villages’ own rule. Buyers, heirs and anyone planning for a younger spouse or partner should ask the Business Office for the current age and occupancy provisions in writing before making plans. The same goes for renting a home out: read the lease rules in the documents for your corporation first.
What the monthly assessment pays for
Owners pay one monthly fee that combines Club dues with the charges of their own corporation. The community’s assessments page lists what that fee covers. Sorted by who does the work, according to the Club’s pages and resource guide:
The current assessments page shows its dollar figures only as an image, so we do not quote any amounts here. Ask the Business Office for the current schedule for the exact home you are looking at.
Three things in that list are worth a buyer’s attention. First, the fee covers items most HOA dues do not, such as water, trash and cable television, so compare it with dues plus utilities elsewhere, not with dues alone. Second, reserves matter more here than in most communities. Private roads, pools, buildings and golf facilities all wear out, and the reserve study is where you see whether the money is being set aside. Third, a condominium owner depends on two sets of reserves, the Club’s and the Association’s, so ask for both studies.
The Club also earns income that is not dues. When we checked, it was offering up to 100 annual golf Players Cards to individuals aged 30 or older for $3,500 a year, and its clubhouse takes bookings for weddings and events. How much of the budget that income carries is a fair question to ask.
The hillside, open space and wildfire
The Villages backs onto open hillside. The Club says its open space has seven hiking trails ranging from easy to challenging, and its stables use seven bridle paths in the foothills. That land is an amenity, and it is also the community’s wildfire edge. The City of San Jose’s wildfire page describes the East Foothills and Almaden Valley communities as especially vulnerable, and says any home in or near the wildland urban interface is at risk.
The community has organized around that risk. According to its own news pages, a Fire Safety Committee was formed in 2022 and an outside consultant assessed every village. On January 7, 2025 The Villages received a Firewise USA certificate of recognition, which its newspaper described as the first in San Jose. The work was led by a Firewise committee of the Association board with representatives of the Club and Homeowners’ boards, alongside CAL FIRE, the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council and the San Jose Fire Department. Since November 2024 volunteers have been inspecting the area around individual homes. The recognition has to be renewed through annual reviews.
For the boards, three points follow. Vegetation work on the hill lands is a recurring cost that belongs in the budget every year, not an occasional project. Because the Club holds the open space while the Association and owners hold the buildings next to it, fuel reduction only works if the corporations plan it together, which is what the joint Firewise committee is for. And the community’s news pages say the Firewise certificate may help with insurance costs, so owners should keep a copy for their insurer. That is the community’s statement, not a promise from any insurer.
City permits inside the gates
Private streets and a gate do not take a community out of the city. City records show the Club applying for city permits like any other property owner. In November 2019 the Planning Director’s hearing approved a Planned Development Permit, file PD18-008, for four pickleball courts and a parking lot on about 0.78 acres on the north side of The Villages Parkway. The item was moved from the consent calendar to a public hearing before it was approved.
The lesson for a committee planning a new court, building or parking area is to allow time for the city’s process as well as the community’s own. A board vote and an architectural approval do not replace a city permit, and a city permit does not replace them.
Water is the other outside rule to watch. San Jose is served by three drinking water retailers, and the city says its water use rules are in effect at all times. 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. Valley Water’s Landscape Rebate Program pays a base rate of $2 per square foot to convert high-water-use lawn, with a cap of $100,000 for commercial sites and multifamily sites of five or more units, and says funding lasts until June 30, 2027 or until it runs out. Approval and a written Notice to Proceed must come before any work starts. With this much landscaped common area, it is worth asking which lawn areas the corporations treat as decorative and what the plan is for them.
Read next: the San Jose HOA Guide for citywide rules, and how architectural requests work for changes to your own home.
Quick answers
Questions owners and buyers ask
Is The Villages one HOA?
No. Public documents describe three California corporations: the Club, which every owner belongs to, The Villages Association for the condominiums and The Villages Homeowners’ Corporation for the single-family homes. Each has its own board.
Who manages The Villages?
The Club’s resource guide says the Club is the management agent for the Association and the Homeowners’ Corporation. The community has its own staff and a Business Office at 5000 Cribari Lane.
Can someone under 55 live at The Villages?
The community’s public pages say only that it is a 55+ community. State law lets a spouse, cohabitant or a co-resident aged 45 or older qualify as a permanent resident in a senior development, and requires the documents to allow younger guests at least 60 days a year. The community’s own documents set the details, so get them in writing from the Business Office.
What do the monthly dues cover?
According to the community’s assessments page: Club membership including golf, the pools, courts and community centers, private road upkeep, 24-hour Public Safety, open space, landscaping, lighting, trash collection, water, cable television, insurance and management. For condominiums the fee also covers roof repair and exterior maintenance and painting. See What Assessments Your HOA Community Needs and Why.
Does the association carry earthquake insurance?
The assessments page lists earthquake coverage among the insurance items in the fee. Ask for the current policy summary, including the deductible and what an owner’s own policy still needs to cover. The 5 Core HOA Insurance Policies explains what to look for.
Is The Villages in a wildfire zone?
Zones are set address by address. Look up your address on the City of San Jose’s fire hazard severity zone finder.
Who maintains the streets?
The Club. The roads inside the gates are private, and road upkeep is one of the items the monthly fee covers. The Club’s Public Safety officers enforce traffic rules inside the community.
Do San Jose’s city rules apply inside the gates?
Yes. City permits, water use rules and state law apply as they do elsewhere. See the San Jose HOA Guide. The governing documents can be stricter.
How do I get involved?
Committees are the usual first step, and each corporation elects directors every year. See How to Set Up and Run HOA Committees and the New Board Member Guide.
Who to call
Who to contact
The Business Office is at 5000 Cribari Lane, San Jose, CA 95135, and lists hours of 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. Other departments, such as maintenance, Public Safety and accounting, are reached through the Business Office.
| Office | Phone | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Business Office | (408) 274-4400 | General questions, current assessments, governing documents, other departments |
| San Jose Municipal Water System | (408) 535-3500 | Water service, if your bill comes from the city’s utility |
| Valley Water conservation hotline | (408) 630-2554 | Landscape rebates |
| Santa Clara County Weed Abatement | (408) 282-3145 | Weed abatement notices and deadlines |
In an emergency call 911. The gate and patrol staff are the community’s own Public Safety department, not the San Jose Police or Fire departments.
Keep going
Where to go next on How2HOA
Sources for this guide
These sources open in a new tab.
The Villages Golf and Country Club: about us; assessments and dues; home styles; outdoors; sports; centers; golf Players Card; newsroom, Firewise USA release of January 17, 2025; Resource Guide 2023.
The Villages community news: 2025 annual member meetings and elections; elections update; Association 2025 annual meeting notice; Association candidate qualifications and nomination procedures; Firewise USA recognition; Firewise home inspections.
City of San Jose: wildfire preparedness; wildland urban interface; fire hazard severity zones; Planning Director’s hearing minutes, November 20, 2019; drinking water.
County and regional agencies: Santa Clara County Weed Abatement Program; Valley Water landscape rebates.
California law: Civil Code section 51.3; Government Code sections 51178 to 51182; AB 1572 (2023).
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Start here: how HOAs workBrowse all HOA topicsThis page is general educational information, not legal, financial or insurance advice. How2HOA is not affiliated with The Villages Golf and Country Club, The Villages Association or The Villages Homeowners’ Corporation, and nothing here speaks for them. Their governing documents and current published figures control, so confirm details with the Business Office and talk with a qualified professional about your situation.