Rancho Murieta HOA Christmas Light Installation: RMA Rules for North and South

The only copy of the Rancho Murieta Association’s rules that anyone can read without a member login is dated October 2002. It says decorative lights may not go on the outside of a home before Thanksgiving Day, and that all of them must be removed by January 30. That’s where Rancho Murieta HOA Christmas light installation starts on the North and on the South, and it’s the reason we ask what your current rules say before we pick a day.

Most homes behind the North Gate and South Gate belong to the Rancho Murieta Association, which everybody just calls RMA. The wording above comes from its Non-Architectural Rules, under a heading that reads Decorative Lights. The Community Services District hosts the scan, and it’s the last version the public can see.

That document is more than twenty years old. Today’s rules sit behind the RMA member login, and boards amend things, so read the current copy or ask the RMA office before you settle on a date. One thing does suggest the subject hasn’t gone away: “decorative lights” was its own line in a CSD Security violation report in 2022.

So treat Thanksgiving Day and January 30 as what the public record shows, not as our word on this year. Once you’ve checked, call (209) 444-1844 and we’ll plan from the real dates.

Rancho Murieta Community Services District Security does two jobs that touch your lights. It’s the outfit that patrols and writes up RMA rule violations. And it runs both gates.

That second job means we can’t just drive in. Our truck has to be on your guest list twice: the day the lights go up, and the day in January they come down. Say North or South when you ring (209) 444-1844, so we ask for the right gate.

Not every home in Rancho Murieta answers to RMA. The Retreats belongs to Rancho North Association, and Murieta Village has the Murieta Village Association. We couldn’t confirm whether RMA’s decorative light rule binds either one, so we won’t guess. If one of those is yours, ask your own association. We wrote up The Retreats and Rancho North separately.

Our part is simple. Tell us what the current rules allow. We book the install after the start date and the takedown with room to spare ahead of the removal date.

We price jobs from photos or a phone call. Text or email some shots of the street side of your place, garage end included. We bring every strand, clip and cord, set a timer so the lights click off late in the evening, and come back if a section quits on you mid-season.

A 1985 patio home on Lago Drive on the North side sits on a very small lot. A 1993 single-story on Celebrar Street on the South side, or a late-1990s Mediterranean on Seguridad Drive, has more yard to work with. What keeps turning up, whatever the decade, is a tile roof.

Nobody on our crew strolls across tile or pries underneath it. Roofline lights ride on clips made for the gutter lip or the fascia edge, and we work off ladders set at the eave. We don’t nail and we don’t staple. On a patio lot the roofline and the front entry are the whole show: lit garland around the door frame, a wreath, lit, centered on the garage, and pillar wraps if your porch has columns.

RMA’s rules describe the place by its many oak trees and acres of greenbelt, and they protect the driplines of the existing oaks. We’re careful there. Tree wraps hold by the strand’s own tension with no fasteners in the bark (our tree wrapping page shows how). Stake lighting gets set clear of sprinkler heads and back from the base of the trees. Anything standing on greenbelt or on Rancho Murieta Country Club ground isn’t yours or ours to light, so we stay on your lot.

Xmas Light Brothers comes down Jackson Road from Plymouth, so the gates are an easy stop for us. Not an association question? Our other page covers general lighting service around Rancho Murieta.

The right dates and a spot on the guest list are most of what Rancho Murieta HOA Christmas light installation asks of you. The rest is ours, and it gets inspected. Carts are street-legal inside the gates, so half your audience rolls past at walking speed and notices every crooked clip and every dark bulb. Sacramento Metro Fire has promoted a Santa and Sirens lighted golf cart parade out here in December. Decorating the cart is your department. Send house photos through the contact form or dial (209) 444-1844, and we’ll have you lit up and tidy when the carts come around.

What dates does the RMA set for Rancho Murieta Christmas lights?

The last public copy of the RMA Non-Architectural Rules, dated October 2002, says not before Thanksgiving Day, with everything removed by January 30. The current rules are only available to members, so confirm the dates with RMA before you schedule.

How do your installers get past the North Gate or South Gate?

Through you. CSD Security checks the resident’s guest list, so our name needs to be on yours for both trips, up and down. Say which gate is nearest your street and we’ll use it.

Does the RMA lights rule apply to The Retreats or Murieta Village?

Those neighborhoods have their own associations, Rancho North Association and Murieta Village Association. We couldn’t confirm whether RMA’s decorative light rule binds them, so ask your own association.