Norwalk, CA Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

Under Civil Code Section 4735(a), any provision in an HOA's governing documents, architectural guidelines, or landscaping policies is void and unenforceable if it prohibits, or effectively prohibits, three things: the use of low water-using plants as a group or as turf replacement (a)(1); the use of artificial turf or any synthetic surface that resembles grass (a)(2); or compliance with a city's water-efficient landscape ordinance adopted under Government Code Section 65595(c), or a state water-use regulation adopted under Water Code Sections 353 or 375 (a)(3). For a Norwalk homeowner inside a common interest development, this overrides any CC&R clause that bans synthetic turf outright or demands an all-natural-grass front yard.

Subdivision (b) preserves an association's right to apply reasonable landscaping rules, such as turf color or maintenance standards, so long as those rules do not amount to a functional ban. Subdivisions (c) through (e) add drought protections: an association cannot fine or assess an owner for cutting back or eliminating watering during a Governor-declared or locally declared drought emergency, unless the owner already receives recycled water and fails to use it for irrigation (d), and water-efficient landscaping installed during a declared emergency does not have to be reversed once the emergency ends (e).

010(H) still govern installation quality (lifelike blades, minimum pile height, no solid weed barriers) for turf, but a Norwalk HOA cannot layer an outright prohibition on top of state law.