Chino Hills, CA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Chapter 15.18 of the Chino Hills Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 331 in 2018 and updated by Ordinance No. 427 in 2025, governs dangerous and substandard buildings citywide. Section 15.18.030(A) states that "any building which is determined by the Building Official to be a dangerous building is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal in accordance with the procedure specified in Section 15.18.050," and that "failure, neglect or refusal to obey any order of the Building Official or hearing officer is a misdemeanor and may result in abatement by the Building Official." Section 15.18.020 defines "dangerous building" through twenty specific conditions, including inadequate exits, structural stress exceeding one and one-half times the Building Code's allowed working stress, fire or earthquake damage leaving a structure below current code capacity, thirty-three percent or more damage to supporting members, and a building that has "remained partially demolished or has been abandoned for a period in excess of six months." The Building Official issues a Notice and Order under § 15.18.050 giving the owner a defined compliance period, and for conditions posing an "immediate threat to the life, limb, property or safety of the public," an Exigent Notice, a red or yellow tag, takes effect immediately upon posting.

Related blight conditions short of a full "dangerous building" finding, like a building "abandoned, partially destroyed, or unsafe" or left in "an unreasonable state of partial construction," are separately designated public nuisances under CHMC § 8.12.020(3), enforced through the Director of Community Development's notice-and-hearing process in §§ 8.12.030 through 8.12.060.