Pasadena, CA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)
Key Facts
- Hearing notice period
- At least 7 days before the hearing
- Corrective action deadline
- Must begin within 30 days of decision
- Appeal window
- 15 calendar days to assistant city manager
- Joint enforcers
- Health officer, building official, neighborhood services, fire chief
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor for violating a final abatement order
- Tax consequence
- Loss of rental-property tax deductions (Rev. & Tax. §§17274, 24436.5)
Summary
Pasadena's Slumlord Ordinance lets the city declare a building with life-threatening code violations, unsanitary conditions or fire hazards a public nuisance and order it repaired, rehabilitated, demolished or removed. A joint team of the health officer, building official, neighborhood services administrator and fire chief investigates, and violating a final abatement order is a misdemeanor.
The board of directors finds and declares that buildings exhibiting slumlike conditions are public nuisances by virtue of their conditions or defects to the extent that the life, health, property or safety of the public or its occupants are endangered. The board further finds and declares that immediate abatement of such buildings by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal is necessary to protect and preserve the safety of the citizens and neighborhoods where such structures are found. ... All buildings or portions thereof which are determined after inspection by authorized personnel to exhibit slumlike conditions as defined in this code are hereby declared to be public nuisances and shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal in accordance with the procedures specified in this chapter. It shall be unlawful and a misdemeanor for any slumlord or other person having charge or control of a building exhibiting slumlike conditions to violate a final order of abatement made pursuant to this chapter.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 79 Update 2).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 14.60 of the Pasadena Municipal Code, the "Slumlord Ordinance," targets buildings "exhibiting slumlike conditions," defined in Section 14.60.030 to include inhabited rental property with longstanding, multiple or life-threatening code violations; a dwelling that a health officer determines is unsanitary, unfit for habitation, or likely to cause sickness because of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation or faulty construction; or a building the fire marshal determines is a fire hazard because of obsolescence, deterioration, faulty wiring or inadequate fire-resistive construction, including any "substandard structure" as defined by Health and Safety Code Section 17920.3. Section 14.60.020 declares such buildings public nuisances whose immediate abatement by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal protects the safety of residents and neighborhoods, and the enforcement duty under Section 14.60.050 is shared jointly by the health officer, the building official, the neighborhood services administrator and the fire chief.
Once officials find slumlike conditions, Section 14.60.080 requires a notice of hearing mailed and posted on the property at least 7 days before a hearing conducted by a retained hearing officer under Section 14.60.090. If the hearing officer finds a public nuisance, Section 14.60.100 requires the written decision to set a corrective-action deadline that begins within 30 days of mailing, and the notice must warn the owner under Section 14.60.080(C) that Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 17274 and 24436.5 deny tax deductions for interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization on rental income from substandard housing. A slumlord has 15 calendar days to appeal the hearing officer's determination to the assistant city manager for community affairs under Section 14.60.110, and if the nuisance is still not abated, Section 14.60.120 authorizes the city to enter the property and abate it directly, with an emergency-abatement option in Section 14.60.150 for conditions posing an immediate danger.
Violations & Fines
Failing to comply with a final order of abatement is a misdemeanor under Section 14.60.060(B). If a notice of substandard building is recorded with the county recorder under Section 14.60.140 and the owner never corrects the conditions, abatement costs the city incurs become recoverable under Chapter 1.30, and the city can pursue civil or criminal nuisance remedies in addition to, or instead of, the Chapter 14.60 procedure under Section 14.60.170.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who decides whether a Pasadena building has slumlike conditions?
How long does an owner have to fix a substandard building?
Are there tax consequences for owning a slumlike rental in Pasadena?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pasadena
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