California HOA Drought Landscaping Rights

Section 4735(a) makes void and unenforceable any provision in an HOA's governing documents, architectural guidelines, or landscaping policies that prohibits low water-using plants as a group or as a replacement of turf, or that bans artificial turf or other grass-like synthetic surfaces. It also voids any HOA rule that restricts compliance with a city or county's water-efficient landscape ordinance adopted under Government Code section 65595(c), or with a state or local water-use restriction adopted under Water Code section 353 or 375. Subdivision (b) lets an association still enforce landscaping standards, but only to the extent they conform with subdivision (a); an HOA cannot use aesthetic or uniformity rules to defeat the statute.

Subdivision (c) bars an association from fining or assessing an owner for reducing or eliminating watering of vegetation or lawns while the Governor has declared a drought state of emergency under Government Code section 8558(b), or while a city or county has declared its own local drought emergency under section 8558(c). Subdivision (d) carves out one exception: the fine ban does not protect an owner who receives recycled water, as defined in Water Code section 13050, from a retail water supplier under Water Code section 13575, if that owner fails to use the recycled water for irrigation.

Subdivision (e) protects owners who convert their yards during a declared emergency: once the emergency is lifted, the association cannot require the owner to reverse or remove the water-efficient landscaping. A companion statute, Civil Code section 4736, added by the Legislature in 2014, separately voids any HOA rule requiring an owner to pressure-wash the exterior of their unit or its exclusive-use common area during a declared state or local drought emergency. Section 4735 was last amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 780, Sec. 5 (Assembly Bill 786), effective October 11, 2015, which added the artificial-turf and water-efficient-ordinance protections to the original 2014 drought-fine law.

An HOA that fines an owner for a brown lawn during a declared drought emergency, or that cites an owner for installing artificial turf or drought-tolerant landscaping, is enforcing a provision the statute makes void and unenforceable. An owner can raise section 4735 as a defense to any fine, assessment, or architectural-violation notice, and can challenge an unlawful fine through the association's internal dispute resolution process or Davis-Stirling Act enforcement in civil court. Associations that keep pressure-washing mandates on the books during a declared emergency face the same void-and-unenforceable outcome under the companion statute, section 4736.