Santa Clara HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Santa Clara regulates short-term rentals in its zoning code, section 18.60.250. The section covers rentals of 30 days or less and sets operating standards and a registration requirement. The city says operators have had to register since November 2024.

The section says its purpose is to allow limited short-term rental of homes while preserving housing stock and neighborhood character, reducing the impact on neighbors and making sure the hotel tax is collected. What a board most needs to know:

• An operator must register with the city. Planning takes questions at (408) 615-2450.
• An ADU or junior ADU is not available for short stays. Section 18.60.020 requires rentals of those units to run longer than 30 days.
• The transient occupancy tax is 13.5% of the rent. The rate rose from 12.5% on January 1, 2025, and it applies to stays of 30 consecutive days or less (City Code Chapter 3.25).
• The tax code requires an operator to register with the Finance Department within 30 days of starting and to file returns each quarter.

Section 18.60.250 also holds the detailed operating standards, and the city amended the section in 2025. Read the current text or call Planning before your board quotes a specific limit in a violation letter.

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.

The city’s ADU rules are in zoning code section 18.60.020. The city’s summary handout, revised in January 2026, lists the main limits:

• A detached ADU can be up to 1,000 square feet on a parcel of 5,500 square feet or less, and up to 1,200 square feet on a larger parcel.
• A junior ADU is capped at 500 square feet and must be inside the walls of the house.
• A one-story detached ADU can be 18 feet tall with 4-foot side and rear setbacks. A taller one, up to 25 feet and one and a half stories, needs larger setbacks for the upper level.
• No parking is required for an ADU, and garage parking lost to a conversion does not have to be replaced.
• On multifamily parcels the code allows up to two detached ADUs, plus units converted from non-livable space such as storage rooms and garages, up to 25% of 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.

The multifamily rule raises a different question in a condominium, where storage rooms and garages are often common area. Whether anyone could convert that space depends on who owns it and what your documents say, so ask the association’s attorney before answering an owner.

The city’s parking rules are in City Code Chapter 10.05, with permit parking in Chapter 10.40:

The city describes permit parking as a tool for neighborhoods that absorb overflow from hospitals, transit stations, business complexes, colleges and similar draws. It applies to public streets. If your association owns its streets, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and by state towing law, so confirm with Santa Clara Police what the city will and will not enforce inside your community, and check your tow-away signs against section 10.05.650.

The city’s Water and Sewer Utilities are the water retailer here. The city keeps a list of water uses that are prohibited at all times, including:

• Irrigating landscape between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
• Runoff onto sidewalks, gutters or streets.
• Watering during or within 48 hours of measurable rain.
• Washing driveways, sidewalks and other paved surfaces.
• Leaks from broken or defective plumbing or irrigation.
• Fountains and ponds without a recirculating pump.

One item on that list names associations directly. The city prohibits watering nonfunctional turf, meaning decorative grass, with drinking water in commercial, industrial and institutional areas, and it says this includes HOA common areas. 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. If your common area still has lawn nobody walks or plays on, ask the utility at (408) 615-2000 how the city rule applies to your irrigation account now.

Two programs can help pay for the change. Valley Water, the countywide water agency, runs the landscape rebates for Santa Clara customers. Its base rate is $2 per square foot for converting lawn to low-water landscape, with a cap of $100,000 per application for commercial sites and multifamily sites of five or more units. You must pass a pre-inspection and hold a written Notice to Proceed before removing any lawn, and then you have 90 days to finish. Valley Water says funding runs until June 30, 2027 or until it is used up. Call its conservation hotline at (408) 630-2554 to confirm which tier covers your association.

The second is recycled water. The city operates 33 miles of recycled water pipeline and lists 275 irrigation sites on the system, among them parks, schools and medians. City Code section 13.15.160 states the city’s intent to prohibit drinking water for landscape irrigation where recycled water is available and meets the standards. If a recycled water main runs near your common area, ask the utility whether your irrigation system can connect.

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

City Code Chapter 12.35 protects far more than oaks, and it reaches private property. A city permit is required before removing any of these (section 12.35.080):

• A heritage tree, in any zoning district.
• A tree of a listed species that is 12 inches or more in diameter: native oaks, coast redwood, deodar and blue Atlas cedar, camphor, western sycamore, big leaf maple, California buckeye and California bay.
• Any private tree with a trunk 38 inches or more in diameter, whatever the species.
• A tree that was approved as part of a development.

That last category matters in planned communities, because the trees in an approved landscape plan are often the ones in the common area. Diameter is measured 54 inches above the ground.

The application goes to the Community Development Department with an arborist report. Where an association is involved, the code asks for the association’s signature with proof of a vote of the association (section 12.35.090). So an owner who wants a protected tree out, or a board that does, should expect to show the city proof of an association vote.

Replacement is heavier for associations than for a single house. The code sets a one-for-one replacement on a single-family lot, but two 24-inch box trees or four 15-gallon trees for each tree removed on multifamily, commercial or industrial property. It is also unlawful to excavate, pave or compact soil within 15 feet of a protected tree in a way that could harm it. Penalties run up to $5,000, plus the value of the tree.

Street trees are the city’s. Residents and contractors may not trim or remove them. Call Public Works at (408) 615-3080.

This is the Santa Clara rule that surprises new board members most. Since August 1, 2019, City Code section 8.35.120 has prohibited smoking inside any unit of a multi-unit residence, new or existing, and in its common areas, enclosed or not. A multi-unit residence is a property with two or more attached units, and the code’s definition of a unit names condominiums and townhouses.

• The definition of a unit includes exclusive-use areas such as a private balcony, porch, deck or patio.
• Smoking includes electronic and vaporizer devices, and cannabis may not be smoked where tobacco smoking is prohibited.
• Whoever controls the common area may set aside a smoking area, but only outdoors, clearly marked, away from doors, windows and play areas, and no larger than 10% of the property’s unenclosed area.
• No-smoking signs are required in common areas, and the person who controls the area must maintain them.

The code speaks to associations by name. Under section 8.35.080, HOA officers, along with owners and property managers, are to post the signs, tell residents and guests about the law and give written notice to violators. Doing those things protects them from liability for a resident’s or guest’s violation. The code also lets private citizens bring a civil action over violations.

Leases signed or renewed since the rule took effect must carry smoking terms, which matters to every owner who rents out a unit. How this ordinance fits with your own nuisance and smoking rules is a question for the association’s attorney.

City Code Chapter 8.15 requires owners and occupants to keep weeds off their property and off the sidewalk and the abutting half of the street or alley. If the work is done for them, the cost becomes a special assessment and a lien on the parcel, collected with property taxes.

In practice the city takes part in the Santa Clara County Weed Abatement Program, which the county’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency manages. County inspectors check properties in the city from April 15 through August 31. A property that fails is added to the county’s list, the owner is notified and a public hearing is announced before the list is confirmed. The fees go on the owner’s tax bill.

The city suggests cutting, pulling or mowing, or spraying in early spring to prevent growth. If burrowing owls are nesting on the property, it says mowing is the preferred method, and the nests must not be disturbed. Associations that own an undeveloped lot, a utility strip or a slope should put the work on the spring calendar.

City Code Chapter 9.10 sets construction hours for work within 300 feet of residentially zoned property: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. No construction is allowed on Sundays or on the holidays listed in the code. The limits cover deliveries to the site and related landscape and pool work. Put those hours in your construction contracts and your architectural approval letters.

The same chapter limits noise from fixed equipment, which for an association means pool pumps, air conditioning units and generators. Measured on a neighboring residential property, the limit is 55 dBA from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 50 dBA overnight.

Chapter 9.10 does not apply to mobile sources, and it defines those to include hand-held power equipment. We did not find a leaf blower ordinance in the city code, so hours for mowing and blowing are for your own rules and your landscape contract to set.

Silicon Valley Power, the city’s electric utility, has a grant written for associations. Its Energy Efficiency Grant for HOAs pays up to $25,000 for a single common-area project that saves electricity, with the association putting in matching funds of 20%.

• The association must have at least 25 individually metered homes and be served under the D-1 rate schedule. Condominiums, townhomes and single-family homes all count.
• Typical projects are hardwired lighting: exterior building lights, bollards, parking lot lights and fixtures in a clubhouse or recreation room.
• Grants are awarded twice a year, with deadlines of June 30 and December 31.
• The application must be approved before you buy or install anything.

Silicon Valley Power has also run an EV charging incentive for multifamily housing of four or more units, including condominiums and townhomes, at up to $7,500 or $8,000 per Level 2 port with a cap of $90,000 to $100,000 per property. It stopped taking new applications on December 17, 2025 because the program was fully subscribed, so check whether it has reopened before you budget around it. Rebates and energy questions go to (408) 615-6650.