San Rafael HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

The vegetation standards in chapter 4.12 apply to all property in the city, and the Fire Department says that includes HOA common areas and exclusive-use areas. Within 5 feet of a building, combustible plants come out and mulch may not touch the structure. Within 30 feet, junipers, bamboo, acacia and Italian cypress must be removed, and vegetation must be cleared within 10 feet of chimneys. Out to 100 feet, trees are limbed up to 5 feet (no more than a third of their height) and grass is kept to 3 inches. Along roads and driveways, keep 10 feet clear to the side and 13 and a half feet overhead.

The department inspects neighborhoods on a published schedule. Its 2026 estimates ran from Marinwood in May to Mont Marin in October, with Glenwood and Peacock Gap in September. For HOAs it offers common-area evaluations, door-to-door checks of exclusive-use areas, long-term maintenance planning and Chipper Days, requested with an HOA intake form. Vegetation management: (415) 485-3054.

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.

Gas-powered leaf blowers have been illegal in San Rafael since October 1, 2022. At residential properties, electric blowers may run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Blowing debris onto a neighbor’s property or into gutters or storm drains is illegal. Code Enforcement takes complaints with a photo or video: (415) 485-3097.

Your landscape contract should require electric equipment and these hours.

Construction, deliveries and repair work are allowed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and never on Sundays or holidays (section 8.13.050). Noise may not exceed 90 dBA outside the property, and the chief building official can stop work for up to two days per violation.

Residential power equipment, and work an owner does on their own home, has different hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Your association’s rules can be stricter.

We did not find a designation of private roads for Vehicle Code enforcement in the parts of San Rafael’s code we could read. Where no designation exists, enforcing parking and speed rules on association-owned streets usually falls to the association, so ask the police department whether any roads in your community are designated.

A tenant or landlord can request city mediation when rent goes up 5% or more within 12 months, and the city says that covers all rental units, including single-family homes, except owner-occupied and certain affordable units. The city’s just-cause eviction rules apply only to properties with at least three units. Mediation is run by the County’s Consumer Protection Unit: (415) 473-6495.

Short-term rentals of fewer than 30 nights need a yearly city registration ($170, then $135 to renew), and the host must live in the home as a primary residence. Occupancy is limited to two per bedroom plus two, and a 24-hour local contact must be posted. The occupancy tax is 12%. Hosts in the wildland-urban interface must also file a vegetation self-certification by April 30 each year. 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.

Five pump stations drain the Canal area, and a 2022 federal grant review places the 400 Canal and Kerner pump stations in the 100-year floodplain. The Baypoint Lagoons assessment, formed in 1999, now goes to the Cayes pump station and to studying algae and odor in the lagoon. West of Highway 101, County Flood Control Zone 6 covers about 440 parcels in San Rafael Meadows. In 2024 the city moved to update its flood hazard ordinance to meet FEMA standards and stay in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Associations near the Bay should review flood coverage with their insurance broker and keep drainage in the reserve study.

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.

The Cash for Grass application has a field for a business, HOA or condo complex name, and commercial sites must record a no-grass conservation easement.

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.