Modoc County, CA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Modoc County is overwhelmingly rural, and outside the City of Alturas every parcel is unincorporated, so the Modoc County Code applies. The County does not publish one comprehensive 'property maintenance' ordinance; instead, blight is addressed through Title 8 (Health and Safety) and the Title 18 zoning standards. Title 8 contains the County's nuisance-abatement framework, including Chapter 8.20 (the general nuisance-abatement and code-enforcement penalty chapter that other ordinances reference) and Chapter 8.50, the County's property-abatement / removal-of-nuisance chapter. On the zoning side, Chapter 18.110 (General Development Standards) backs this up by prohibiting accumulation of trash or rubbish: 'No trash or rubbish shall be allowed to accumulate on any lot or parcel.' Typical blight complaints in the unincorporated county involve junk accumulation, inoperative vehicles, dumped waste, and deteriorating structures, all of which can be declared public nuisances and abated by the County, with the County able to recover its abatement costs. Because Modoc County does not staff a large code-enforcement office, abatement is largely complaint-driven: residents who see junk piles, illegal dumping, or unsafe structures report them to the County (Building & Safety / Planning), which then follows the Title 8 nuisance-abatement process. The City of Alturas has its own municipal code, so this page covers only the unincorporated areas. Always verify the exact current section, since chapter numbers are periodically updated on the County's Municode portal.