Fremont, CA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

240, the zoning administrator or designee issues a home occupation permit only when the proposed business meets every listed criterion: it must be clearly incidental and secondary to the dwelling, carried on solely by the resident, and confined to one room of the dwelling, a permitted accessory structure, or a garage. The home occupation cannot occupy more than one-fourth of the floor area on one floor of the dwelling, or more than the portion of a garage not needed for required parking. Materials must be stored only in that same room or non-parking garage space, and the business cannot involve explosive, flammable, or otherwise hazardous materials.

Certain uses are expressly barred outright, including vehicle sales, repair, detailing or upholstery work; equipment leasing; massage parlors, dating services and dance studios for people over 16; fortune-telling and similar occult trades; and firearms dealers or gunsmiths (existing gunsmith home occupations had to abate by December 31, 2019). A permit runs for up to five years, is renewable if the zoning administrator finds continued compliance, and is not transferable between residents; a tenant applicant needs the property owner's signature. 100 lists that dwelling's address as the business mailing address, a presumption the resident can rebut by showing no business records are kept and no customers are solicited from the address.