Apple Valley, MN Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Chapter 122 of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances, adopted by the Apple Valley City Council in Dakota County, Minnesota, opens with a purpose clause that works as the City's habitability standard for rentals. Rental housing must be decent, safe and sanitary, and operated and maintained so it does not become a neighborhood nuisance or an influence that fosters blight. Owners and operators must take reasonable steps so tenants have surroundings that are safe, secure and sanitary, free from noise and nuisances, and free from conditions that endanger health or safety.

The chapter covers any dwelling and any dwelling unit that is residential rental property, including garages, storage buildings and appurtenances. It excludes Minnesota Department of Health-licensed rest homes, convalescent care facilities, group homes and nursing homes, hotels, motels, owner-occupied units and condominium units.

Registration is the enforcement hook. Each rental property is registered on its own City form listing the owner and rental manager, the property address (with the building name and unit count for an apartment building), whether criminal background checks are run, whether a written lease exists, and whether a Drug Free/Crime Free Lease Addendum is attached to each lease. The City then issues a non-transferable certificate of registration. Within 30 days of a transfer of ownership, a change of rental manager, a change in the number of rental units, or a switch from owner occupancy to tenant occupancy, the owner or manager must file a new form. The registration fee is set in the appendix to Chapter 35 and is paid when the form is submitted.

The physical standards themselves come from the property maintenance section, § 155.360, which binds the owner and the occupant. It requires interiors kept in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary, systems free from leaks and defects, buildings free from rodent or pest infestation, and no hazardous building or condition. Exterior wood surfaces with peeling paint over 20% of a wall or surface area must be restored, and house numbers must be at least four inches high.