Property Maintenance in San Francisco, CA (2026)
3 verified property maintenance rules for San Francisco, California, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Property Blight
San Francisco actively enforces property maintenance standards through the Housing Code, Building Code, and Health Code. Blighted properties with peeling paint, broken windows, overgrown vegetation, graffiti, or accumulated debris face code enforcement action from DBI and DPH.
San Francisco Property Blight & Nuisance Ordinance
Some RestrictionsCalifornia Vehicle Code Sec. 22660 (Local Authority to Abate Abandoned Vehicles as Public Nuisances)
22660. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a city, county, or city and county may adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement and removal, as public nuisances, of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts thereof from private or public property, and for the recovery, pursuant to Section 25845 or 38773.5 of the Government Code, or assumption by the...
Vacant Lot Maintenance
San Francisco treats any blighted vacant lot as a public nuisance. Public Works Code Section 735 makes it unlawful to maintain one, and the Director of Public Works can force a cleanup through the abatement machinery of Administrative Code Chapter 80.
SF Blighted Vacant Lot Nuisance Rules
Significant RestrictionsSan Francisco Public Works Code Sec. 735(a)(1)
"Blighted Vacant Lot" means property that: (A) contains no buildings or structures that are occupied, inhabited, used or secured so that the public may not gain entry without consent of the owner; and (B) has any accumulation of filth, garbage, decaying animal or vegetable matter, waste paper, weeds, vegetation overgrowth, dead or decaying trees, litter, trash, unsanitary debris, waste material...
Snow & Sidewalk Clearing
San Francisco does not experience snowfall and has no snow removal ordinance. However, property owners are responsible for maintaining adjacent sidewalks in a clean and safe condition under Public Works Code Article 1, including removal of debris and hazards.
San Francisco Snow & Sidewalk Clearing Rules
Some RestrictionsCalifornia Streets and Highways Code Sec. 5610 (Adjacent Owner Duty to Maintain Sidewalk in Safe Condition)
5610. The owners of lots or portions of lots fronting on any portion of a public street or place when that street or place is improved or if and when the area between the property line of the adjacent property and the street line is maintained as a park or parking strip, shall maintain any sidewalk in such condition that the sidewalk will not endanger persons or property and maintain it in a co...