6 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in San Mateo County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Unincorporated San Mateo County properties used for residential purposes within the Service Area receive a minimum curbside service set by County Code Section 4.04.220, which includes garbage, recycling, and organics carts collected weekly. The County pays the cost of the minimum service levels to the authorized hauler, and those service charges are collected along with the property tax.
In unincorporated San Mateo County, the Planning and Building Code Compliance Section enforces property-maintenance standards and abates public nuisances such as accumulated refuse, junk, and deteriorated structures. When a nuisance is confirmed, the owner gets a Notice and Order to Abate with 10 days to correct; if ignored, the County abates and bills actual costs plus 15%.
Cal. Vehicle Code Sec. 22660 (Local Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Authority)
22660. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a city, county, or city and county may adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement and removal, as public nuisances, of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts thereof from private or public property, and for the recovery, pursuant to Section 25845 or 38773.5 of the Government Code, or assumption by the...
There is no special vacant-lot ordinance unique to unincorporated San Mateo County; vacant parcels meet the same public-nuisance and property-maintenance standards Code Compliance enforces countywide. Accumulated refuse, junk, and overgrown or dead vegetation can be declared a nuisance and abated after a 10-day notice, with costs plus a 15% fee billed to the owner.
Snow sidewalk clearing is not a regular concern in unincorporated San Mateo County's Mediterranean coastal climate, and the County has no dedicated snow-clearance ordinance. On the rare occasions of snow at Skyline Ridge or upper La Honda/Kings Mountain elevations, Caltrans clears State Routes 35, 84, and 92, while property owners are generally responsible for keeping their own driveways and sidewalks (where they exist) passable. Streets & Highways Code §§5610-5618 gives local agencies general authority over abutting-property sidewalk maintenance.
California Streets and Highways Code § 5610
5610. The owners of lots or portions of lots fronting on any portion of a public street or place when that street or place is improved or if and when the area between the property line of the adjacent property and the street line is maintained as a park or parking strip, shall maintain any sidewalk in such condition that the sidewalk will not endanger persons or property and maintain it in a co...
San Mateo County does not appear to publish a dedicated garage-sale ordinance for unincorporated areas, and no County permit requirement for occasional residential sales could be confirmed from a primary source. Sales are treated as an incidental residential activity, but must not create a public nuisance, block sidewalks or roadways, or violate sign and zoning rules enforced by Code Compliance.
Unincorporated San Mateo County does not publish a lawn-height number in its general code, but the County's Notice of Violation forms apply an International Property Maintenance Code standard requiring overgrown and dead weeds and vegetation to be removed and kept at 18 inches or less. Separately, fire-hazardous weeds are abated under California Health and Safety Code authority.
1 cities in San Mateo County have their own property maintenance rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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