SB 908 would cap California HOA design review over window replacement
SB 908 would cap California HOA design review over window replacement
2026-09-09 · California · Legislation · Pending — not yet law
A bill that would remove aesthetic control over window replacement from most California homeowners associations has passed both houses and now awaits the Governor's signature. SB 908 is not law. It was enrolled and presented to Governor Gavin Newsom on August 31, 2026 at 6 p.m., after the Senate concurred in the Assembly's amendments 38–1 on August 26.1
The bill is authored by Senator Scott Wiener, with Senator Aisha Wahab as coauthor. It adds a new section 4754 to the Civil Code and a parallel section 65850.73 to the Government Code addressing local permitting.
What the bill would do
Section 4754 would void any covenant that effectively prohibits or restricts an owner from completing a residential window replacement project, and any covenant that imposes requirements on windows compliant with the California Energy Code.2
The bill goes further than voiding restrictions: it addresses the review process itself. An association could not require design review at all unless its governing documents establish reasonable restrictions. Where approval is required, the association must approve the application if the owner uses a licensed contractor, obtains the necessary permits, complies with the association's aesthetic and installation standards, and pays the costs.
The 45-day clock
SB 908 imposes a deadline that architectural committees do not currently face for windows. An application must be approved or disapproved in writing within 45 days of receipt, or it is automatically approved. The clock pauses only where the application is incomplete and information is outstanding.
The 20-unit line
The bill's most consequential drafting choice is the one that decides which associations keep aesthetic control and which do not.
Aesthetic restrictions would be permitted only for multifamily buildings of more than 20 units — and the bill expressly excludes townhomes from that allowance. Installation restrictions of any kind are permitted only where they do not significantly increase cost or decrease energy efficiency by more than 10 percent, and aesthetic restrictions in qualifying buildings are subject to that same combined ceiling.
The practical effect of the carve-out is that most single-family planned developments and townhome associations in California would lose control over window style, frame color and grid pattern entirely.
What it would change for boards and managers
The 45-day clock is an administrative problem before it is a legal one. Many California associations run architectural review through a committee that meets monthly, and some quarterly. A quarterly committee cannot reliably act within 45 days of receipt. If SB 908 is signed, associations that keep any window review authority would need either a meeting cadence that fits the clock or a delegated administrative approval path — and the delegation itself has to be authorized before the first application arrives, not after.
Receipt, not review, starts the clock. The 45 days run from receipt of the application. An association without a documented intake procedure — a date-stamped log, a defined recipient, a written acknowledgment — will struggle to establish when the period began, and the consequence of losing that argument is a deemed approval of whatever was submitted.
Written disapproval becomes mandatory. Silence approves. A committee that declines an application verbally, or that tables it pending more information without issuing a written disposition, would be at risk on the 46th day.
The 10 percent ceiling requires evidence. A restriction is permitted only where it does not significantly increase cost or reduce energy efficiency by more than 10 percent. An association enforcing a specific frame material or glazing specification would be asserting a factual proposition about cost and performance — and would be the party asserting it. Guidelines drafted for appearance alone do not carry that evidence.
The exclusion catches townhome associations. The over-20-unit allowance is for multifamily buildings and townhomes are expressly excluded. A townhome association with 200 units in buildings of six would fall outside the allowance despite its size, because the line is drawn at the building and at the form, not at the association.
Where this sits in the broader pattern
SB 908 is one of three bills on the Governor's desk that limit association control over building components in the name of energy performance. AB 1684 would void restrictions on code-compliant cooling systems; SB 222 would do the same for heat pumps and gas-to-electric appliance replacement.
Read together they describe a direction rather than three separate measures: where a component's replacement carries an energy-efficiency benefit, the Legislature has been willing to convert association discretion into a ministerial approval with a statutory deadline. The solar rights and EV charging statutes established the template; these bills extend it to the building envelope and the mechanical systems.
What to watch next
The Governor must act by September 30, 2026 on bills passed before September 1.3 Because the 2025–2026 two-year session has closed, a veto ends SB 908 rather than returning it — a successor would start over in the session convening December 2026.
If it is signed, the bill carries no urgency clause, placing its operative date at January 1, 2027. Associations with meaningful window standards have one budget cycle to determine whether their buildings fall inside or outside the over-20-unit allowance, and to rebuild their intake process around a 45-day deadline that does not currently exist.
Related California HOA Topics
- SB 908, California Legislature — bill status and complete history (enrolled and presented to the Governor August 31, 2026) ↩
- SB 908, California Legislature — bill text and Legislative Counsel's Digest (adding Civil Code § 4754 and Government Code § 65850.73) ↩
- 2026 Tentative Legislative Calendar, California State Senate (September 30 last day for the Governor to act) ↩
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