Multifamily and Duplex Properties for Sale in Yolo County: Zoning and Rent Rules

What multifamily in Yolo County looks like

Most of Yolo County’s apartments are in Davis, where student rentals near UC Davis dominate, and in West Sacramento and Woodland, which mix older fourplexes with newer complexes. Winters has a small stock of duplexes and newer apartments. In unincorporated Yolo, multifamily is a small-town product: duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings in towns with public water and sewer, such as Esparto, Knights Landing, Madison and Dunnigan, plus apartments above shops in Esparto’s downtown. On farmland, added rentals take the form of extra farm homes and farmworker housing. For financing, see financing 2-4 unit properties and apartment building loans.

Where the zoning allows it

Article 5 of the county zoning code sets these residential zones and names the towns where each is mapped:

The C-H highway zone also allows attached and multifamily homes with site plan review or a minor use permit. Mobile home parks need a major use permit and are possible only in R-L and R-M. Where a parcel lacks public water or wastewater, a two-acre minimum applies to new building permits, which effectively rules out multifamily.

ADUs. Section 8-2.506(b) allows ADUs and JADUs in every residential zone, approved ministerially, with building permits decided within 120 days. A detached ADU can reach 1,200 square feet; an attached one, half of the main home’s living area up to 1,200; a JADU, 500 inside the house. New ADUs need four-foot side and rear setbacks and one parking space, with exemptions. See our ADU investment guide.

Farm parcels. Under Section 8-2.402, more than two homes on A-N or A-X land may be allowed by minor use permit. Farmworker housing can enlarge the residential footprint to four acres and, in Clarksburg, is exempt from certain county fees.

SB 9. SB 9 applies to single-family zones in urbanized areas, and most of unincorporated Yolo is farmland that will not qualify. Check town parcels with the county. See our SB 9 lot split guide.

Rent rules: state law only

The Attorney General’s rent cap page lists no local rent increase cap in Yolo County, including Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento and Winters. Yolo is not in a named region, so the All Other Counties cap applies: 7.7% for increases from August 1, 2025 and 8.6% from August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027. The Tenant Protection Act’s just cause rules also apply to covered tenancies. See our AB 1482 guide and just cause eviction guide.

Mobile home parks. An October 2023 Board of Supervisors item on mobile home park rent stabilization recommended no cap. It asked the Board to consider an ad hoc subcommittee and noted that a 2007 draft ordinance was never shown as adopted. The item listed five parks, including Dunnigan MHP and Davis Creek MHP. We found no adopted county space rent ordinance, so check the city where a park sits; the same item notes Woodland has its own.

Yolo County rental property rules

• Inclusionary housing. Chapter 8 requires rental projects of 20 or more units to set aside 25% very low income and 10% low income units, built on site and permanently affordable. Projects of 7 to 19 rentals set aside 15% and 10%. Smaller projects pay an in-lieu fee, and for-sale projects of 10 or more homes set aside 20%.
• Housing Element. The county’s 2021–2029 Housing Element was filed on CEQAnet as a policy update that made no changes to land use designations or densities.
• Short-term rentals. Stays of 30 days or less pay transient occupancy tax, 8% in unincorporated areas according to the county’s May 2026 Board presentation, which also proposed a November 2026 vote on raising it to 12%.
• Transfer tax. The county documentary transfer tax is $0.55 per $500 under Section 3-2.04.

Flood, utility and building issues

Much of eastern Yolo, including Clarksburg and Knights Landing, is low river and Delta land. The code requires specific findings for residential projects in the floodplain, and the Delta Protection overlay covers the state primary zone. Town sewer and water capacity decides whether R-H density is real, and the B overlay sets a two-acre minimum for new unsewered lots in areas such as Capay Valley. Buildings of three or more units with elevated balconies need SB 721 inspections, and older wood-frame stock in the towns may warrant a seismic retrofit review.

Underwriting a Yolo County multifamily purchase

1. Confirm city or county jurisdiction and the zone; in a town, confirm the parcel is on public water and sewer.
2. Model increases at the AB 1482 cap for covered units, since no Yolo jurisdiction appears on the AG chart’s local list.
3. For new construction of seven or more rentals, budget for inclusionary units under Chapter 8.
4. Check flood zone, levee and Delta overlay status for river-area towns.
5. Test ADU upside against Section 8-2.506 limits.
6. Collect leases, rent roll, two years of statements and estoppel certificates, then run our rental property analysis.

Questions people ask

Sources & notes

1. California Attorney General, Rent Caps
2. Yolo County Code Title 8, Chapter 2 (GoCodebook): Article 4, Article 5, Article 6
3. Yolo County Code Title 8, Chapter 8, Inclusionary Housing
4. Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization item, Oct. 24, 2023
5. CEQAnet, Yolo County 2021–2029 Housing Element
6. Yolo County Board of Supervisors, TOT presentation, May 26, 2026
7. Yolo County Code Section 3-2.04, Documentary Transfer Tax

Note: City rental programs and any city mobile home rules are covered on each city page.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.

Related: Yolo County real estate guide · Commercial real estate in Yolo County · Multifamily investing guide · Investor services