Santa Ana HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Santa Ana bans short-term rentals, meaning a residence rented for less than 30 days. The City Council adopted an urgency ban on April 2, 2024 and a regular ordinance on April 16, 2024. On November 20, 2024, it approved a permanent version: Article XXI of Chapter 8 of the Municipal Code (sections 8-3400 to 8-3402), which replaced both earlier ordinances and expressly prohibits short-term rentals citywide.

When it adopted the ban, city staff counted more than 1,100 active short-term units. The City Attorney can prosecute a violation as an infraction or a misdemeanor, and the city can also go to civil court, where the winning side may recover attorney’s fees. The council also set administrative fines for short-term rental violations, but we could not open the fine schedule, so we do not quote amounts. Report a suspected rental to Code Enforcement at (714) 667-2780 or through the mySantaAna app.

Your association can also prohibit short rentals in its own documents. California Civil Code section 4741 does not stop an association from prohibiting rentals of 30 days or less.

Santa Ana’s Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, amended effective November 18, 2022, can matter to owners who rent out an association home. The city’s page describes it this way:

• Rent increases: for covered units, no more than the lower of 3% a year or 80% of the change in the Consumer Price Index, and only one increase in 12 months.
• Which units: units exempt under the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act are not covered by the rent cap, and the cap applies only to buildings built on or before February 1, 1995.
• Just cause: most tenants who have lived in a unit for 30 days are protected from eviction without a just cause. Housing built in the last 15 years is one of the exemptions.
• Rental registry: landlords must register rental units with the city and pay an annual registry fee. The registry opened July 1, 2023.

The city’s page does not say plainly whether a rented condominium or house is covered by the rent cap or must be registered, and the newest allowable increase it lists is for 2022-23. Owners who rent should call the Rent Stabilization program at (714) 667-2209 before raising rent or ending a tenancy. The ordinance governs owners and tenants. It does not change what your CC&Rs say about leasing.

Resident permits cost $81 each and last up to two years, expiring on a common date in each district, and the fee can change each fiscal year. RV and permit parking requests go to Traffic Engineering at (714) 647-5623. The Public Works Agency is also studying a new citywide permit parking program, so expect these rules to change.

The city pages we read cover public streets. They do not say whether police enforce parking on private association streets, so we could not confirm it. Ask Parking Control at (714) 245-8225 before you plan around it.

Santa Ana runs its own water utility through its Water Resources Division, which works with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Municipal Water District of Orange County on conservation. The city’s permanent water conservation requirements say leaks must be repaired within 72 hours of notice from the city. The city also asks customers to water only between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., which it presents as a water-saving tip rather than a rule.

Under AB 1572, the 2023 state law on watering nonfunctional turf with drinking water, HOA and common interest development common areas must stop by January 1, 2029. The State Water Board says functional turf is mowed grass in a recreation area or community space, and that grass in street rights-of-way and parking lots is nonfunctional. In October 2025 the city noted that the phased state ban begins in 2027 and invited HOA property managers to a free online session on it. HOA common areas come later in the phase-in, on January 1, 2029.

These amounts are listed for residents. The city says businesses can get cash rebates for landscaping equipment but does not list amounts, and its pages do not say how HOA common areas are treated. Call the city’s Water Hotline at (714) 647-3500 or SoCal Water$mart at (888) 376-3314 before you plan a common-area conversion.

Santa Ana’s Code Enforcement Division takes complaints at (714) 667-2780 or through an online form, and the city’s mySantaAna app takes reports too. Potholes, street sweeping and sewer or storm drain problems go to Public Works at (714) 647-3380, and graffiti removal to (877) 786-7824. Trash, recycling and organics service is provided by Republic Services, at (657) 467-6220.

The city also supports neighborhood associations through its Neighborhood Initiatives and Environmental Services program. The city describes a neighborhood association as resident volunteers in one part of Santa Ana who come together on local needs or concerns, and says nothing about CC&Rs or dues. An HOA is different: it is created by recorded governing documents that bind every owner in the community. When an owner asks which group can enforce a rule, that difference is the answer.