Last winter, Lowell Strauss moved his precariously perched house to keep it from sliding off the towering bluff over Bolinas Beach after the foundation started sinking and broke in half. He acted quickly to avoid a disaster—too quickly for the taste of Marin’s code enforcement division, which red tagged the property in January, ordering him to stop work until he had the necessary approvals. Neighbors had complained to the county, concerned that Mr. Strauss’s efforts to salvage the house were damaging the bluff and creating a safety hazard. At stake is a home with sweeping views of the Pacific, from the San Francisco skyline to the Point Reyes National Seashore. Before the foundation split apart, the house at 105 Terrace Avenue rented for $1,200 a night on Airbnb, where it received glowing reviews from guests. The house currently rests atop pilings made of railroad ties, away from the precipice but still too close for comfort. There it will remain until the county resolves the matter. Mr. Strauss is hoping to move the structure as far from the bluff as possible, about 53 feet from the edge to a location 8 feet from the road. To do that requires both a coastal permit and an exception to a zoning rule that requires new homes to be built at least 25 feet from the property line. Mr. Strauss submitted an application on April 25, and the county is now reviewing the paperwork. He hopes to move the house before the next rainy season, which will likely exacerbate the landslide that has been eating away at the bluff for years. “We have to take steps before the next rains come to secure the house,” he said. “It’s not safe where it is right now.” It typically takes the county six months to process a coastal permit, according to Megan Alton, the county zoning administrator who is reviewing the application. In this case, she said, planning staff hope to do so expeditiously. “We can’t sit on this,” she said. “We need to keep this application moving along. We need a solution.” Mr. Strauss couldn’t agree more. “If we had left the house in the same spot, it would be on the beach by now,” said Mr. Strauss, a former software engineer who now operates a real estate development company with several Airbnbs in its portfolio. The red tag took Mr. Strauss by surprise. He says that before he began the work, he was told by both a county building inspector and California Coastal Commission staff that he could take immediate steps to secure the building while he applied for permits. “Marin code enforcement got involved because of a neighbor’s complaint and red tagged the property while, at the same time, the building official told us to secure it,” he said. After the county finishes reviewing the completed application, a deputy zoning administrator will schedule a public hearing on his request to move the house. “It’s still not out of danger,” Mr. Strauss said.