California HOA flag and political sign rights

Section 4705 is the US flag rule. It applies to your separate interest, meaning your lot in a planned development or your unit in a condo, and to exclusive use common area assigned to you, like a balcony or patio. The only exception in the statute is a restriction required to protect public health or safety. A flag made of lights, paint, roofing, siding, paving, plants, or balloons does not count as a protected display. If you have to go to court to enforce the section, the winning side recovers attorney's fees and costs.

Section 4705 does not set a flag size, and it does not mention installing a freestanding flagpole in the ground. It protects a flag displayed from a staff or pole or in a window. If you want a new in-ground pole, read the architectural rules before you buy, because the statute is silent on that question.

Section 4710 covers everything else that is noncommercial: a state or military flag, a banner, a poster, or a sign for a candidate or ballot measure. The governing documents cannot prohibit these on or in your separate interest, displayed from the yard, window, door, balcony, or outside wall. They have to be made of paper, cardboard, cloth, plastic, or fabric. The association can prohibit signs and posters over 9 square feet and flags or banners over 15 square feet, along with displays that would violate a law or threaten public health or safety.

Two limits are worth knowing. Section 4710 protects only your separate interest, so it does not reach the common area, and it does not reach an exclusive use common area the way 4705 does. Both sections apply to condos, planned developments, stock cooperatives, and community apartment projects, since all four are common interest developments under the Davis-Stirling Act.

A federal law, the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, also bars condo, co-op, and homeowners associations from adopting or enforcing a rule that would stop you from displaying the US flag on property you own or have exclusive use of. It covers only the US flag, and it still allows reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions that are necessary to protect a substantial interest of the association. The California section has a narrower exception: public health or safety.

Plenty of California CC&Rs were written before 2014 and still say "no signs or flags of any kind." That language cannot be enforced against a US flag in your unit, or against a campaign sign in your yard that meets the size and material rules. A board that still sends violation letters over it may be running on outdated documents, and that tells you something about how the rest of the rules are kept up.

Look for these in the CC&Rs, rules, and minutes:

• A sign or flag rule that bans all signs, or sets a size smaller than 9 square feet for signs or 15 square feet for flags.
• A rule that allows political signs only within a set number of days before an election. California law has no such window.
• A cap of one sign per home. Section 4710 does not set a number limit.
• Rules on in-ground flagpoles in the architectural guidelines.
• Board minutes or violation notices about flags or campaign signs.

A flag or sign rule will rarely change your price. It is still a quick test of whether the board's documents match current law, and outdated rules tend to come in clusters.

An HOA Notes brief reads the CC&Rs and rules against Civil Code 4705 and 4710, flags any restriction that goes past what the statutes allow, and cites the page behind every finding.

Civil Code section 4705 (Flag display rights). An owner may display the flag of the United States, made of fabric, cloth, or paper, on or in the owner's separate interest or exclusive use common area (Civil Code section 4705). Other noncommercial flags and banners, such as the California state flag or a POW/MIA flag, are protected as noncommercial displays under Civil Code section 4710, subject to reasonable restrictions. The association may impose reasonable restrictions on the size, number, and manner of display, provided restrictions do not relate to the content of the flag.

When you read the disclosure packet, watch for no flags or banners, no signs or displays on exterior, and no items attached to exterior. HOA Notes flags each of these against the statute and tells you which restrictions are actually enforceable.