Can I run a business from home in San Clemente, California?
Yes, with a Home Occupation Permit and a City business license. Only residents of the home can work in the business, it can use no more than 20% of the home's floor area, and no signs or direct sales to customers on site are allowed (arts and self-improvement lessons are an exception).
| Approval needed | Home Occupation Permit + City business license [1] |
| Employees | Residents of the home only [2] |
| Max floor area used | 20% of habitable floor area [3] |
| Signs | None allowed [4] |
| Customer sales on site | Not allowed (arts/self-improvement lessons excepted) [5] |
| Electric motors | 2 horsepower total max [6] |
| Cottage food employees | 1 full-time non-household employee max [7] |
Approval
San Clemente requires a Home Occupation Permit (under §17.16.140) and a City business license for any business run as an accessory use of a home, in any zone [1]. Home occupations are allowed in legal dwelling units in all zones. The permit belongs to you and your address and can't be transferred.
Main standards (§17.28.160)
- Employees: only residents of the home may work in the business [2].
- Size: the business must stay incidental and use no more than 20% of the home's habitable floor area [3].
- Signs: none [4].
- Customers and sales: no direct sales to customers on the premises [5]. Phone, catalog and off-site service sales are fine. The exception is individual instruction in self-improvement subjects related to the arts, such as unamplified music, painting, crafts and dance.
- Traffic: your home can't be a pickup or delivery point for customers, can't use commercial delivery vehicles other than regular carriers, and can't increase neighborhood traffic.
- Setting and storage: work must happen inside the house or another enclosed building on site. Nothing can be stored or visible outside. Outdoor work needs a Conditional Use Permit, except swimming lessons for up to three students at a time in your pool.
- Garage and parking: you can work in the garage, but not in required parking spaces.
- Noise and equipment: no noise or odors beyond normal residential levels, no equipment causing electrical interference, and electric motors totaling no more than 2 horsepower [6].
Cottage food
Cottage food operations (Class A or B under state law) are allowed in any legal home, with their own rules. The operator must live there, one full-time employee outside the household is allowed [7], only one customer may be on site at a time, and there are no sales between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. One parking space is needed for customers and deliveries.
Family day care
The residential use table lists small and large family day care homes as permitted uses in every residential zone, as a separate use from home occupations [8]. The code we reviewed doesn't say whether a day care home also needs a Home Occupation Permit or business license. Under state law (Health & Safety Code §1597.45), a licensed family day care home is a residential use, and cities can't require a use permit or charge a business license or fee for it, so those requirements shouldn't apply to one. Confirm with the Planning Division.
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Next steps
- Apply to the Planning Division for a Home Occupation Permit, describing the business, the space used and any equipment.
- Get a City business license under Chapter 5.04.
- For a cottage food business, register (Class A) or get a permit (Class B) from Orange County Environmental Health, and give the City the waste hauler's comments on trash service.
- If you need to work outdoors, apply for a Conditional Use Permit.
Common questions
- Do I need a home occupation permit in San Clemente, California?
- Yes. Any business run as an accessory use of a home in San Clemente needs a Home Occupation Permit and a City business license. The permit belongs to you and your address and can't be transferred.
- What are the home business rules in San Clemente, California?
- Only residents of the home can work in the business, and it can use no more than 20% of the home's habitable floor area. No signs, no outdoor storage and no direct sales to customers on site are allowed, though individual arts and self-improvement lessons are an exception.
- Can I run a cottage food business from home in San Clemente, California?
- Yes. Class A or B cottage food operations are allowed in any legal home. The operator must live there, one full-time employee outside the household is allowed, only one customer may be on site at a time, and there are no sales between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m.
- Can I work out of my garage as a home business in San Clemente, California?
- Yes, you can work in the garage, but not in required parking spaces. Work must happen inside the house or another enclosed building, and outdoor work needs a Conditional Use Permit, except swimming lessons for up to three students at a time in your pool.
California state protections for home-based businesses
California has no general statewide home-occupation law. Cities and counties set the rules on employees, signs, customer visits and parking. State law protects a few specific home businesses:
Family child care homes (Health & Safety Code §1597.45):
- A licensed small (up to 8 children) or large (7 to 14 children) family daycare home is a residential use by right under all local ordinances, including zoning. A city can't require a use permit.
- Cities can't charge a business license, fee or tax for operating one, and it isn't a change of occupancy under building codes.
- Local rules may apply only if they are identical to those for other homes in the same zone, whether the home is rented or owned.
Cottage food operations (Gov. Code §51035; AB 1616, effective 2013):
- Cities and counties can't prohibit home cottage food operations. They must allow them as a permitted use or through a permit limited to reasonable spacing, traffic, parking and noise standards.
- A cottage food operation has no more than one full-time-equivalent employee besides family or household members. Class A (direct sales only) is capped at $75,000 a year and Class B at $150,000, adjusted for inflation (H&S Code §113758).
- You must register (Class A) or get a permit (Class B) from the county environmental health agency.
Home kitchens selling meals (microenterprise home kitchen operations): allowed only where the city or county has authorized them, with a permit and a limit of 30 meals a day and 90 a week (§113825).
What the ordinance says
- §17.28.160(B)(1), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
Home Occupation Permits, in accordance with Section 17.16.140 , Home Occupation Permits of this title, and City business licenses are required when businesses are conducted as an accessory use to a primary residential use in any zone.
- §17.28.160(C)(1) Employees, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
Only the residents of the dwelling unit may be employed in the home occupation.
- §17.28.160(C)(12) Use, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
The home occupation shall not involve more than 20 percent of the habitable dwelling floor area.
- §17.28.160(C)(8) Signs, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
No signs for the home occupation shall be allowed.
- §17.28.160(C)(6) Sales, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
No direct sale to customers of any item or service related to a home occupation shall occur on the premises.
- §17.28.160(C)(4) Noise, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
No motor power, other than electrically operated motors, shall be used in connection with home occupation, and the total combined horsepower of such electrical motors shall not exceed two horsepower.
- §17.28.160(D)(4)(a), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.28 Special Uses (17.28.060 animals, large species; 17.28.160 home occupations; 17.28.270 accessory dwelling units; 17.28.292 short term lodging units)
A maximum of one full-time employee, exclusive of family/household members, may be employed by the cottage food home occupation business at the residence.
- Table 17.32.030, footnote 5, Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.32 Residential Zones and Standards
Small-family and Large-family day care homes are permitted in a detached single-family dwelling, a townhouse, a dwelling unit within a dwelling, or a dwelling unit within a covered multi-family dwelling in which the underlying zoning allows for residential uses, or a legal non-conforming single-family dwelling unit in nonresidential zone.