Brentwood, CA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

010: a periodic, proactive inspection program for residential rental housing meant to protect public health, safety and welfare, catch substandard conditions early, and stop the kind of deterioration that drags down property values and quality of life citywide. 020 defines the terms that make the habitability standard enforceable. A "deficiency" is any failure of a rental property to comply with "applicable laws," and the chapter defines that phrase broadly to mean not just the municipal code itself but any code the city has adopted by reference, any permit the city issued for the property, conditions attached to a development approval, or any other city ordinance or regulation, so a habitability problem can trace back to the building code, the property maintenance chapter, or a condition on the original permit rather than one narrow list of defects.

The chapter reaches every "rental property," meaning any residential dwelling in the city occupied by, or meant to be occupied by, someone other than the owner of record on the last equalized assessment roll. A "responsible party" who must correct a deficiency can be the owner, the person in charge of the property, the person using it when the violation exists, a parent or guardian of a minor responsible party, or the manager or corporate officer if a business entity holds the property. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, RVs and other units in a mobile home park, along with hotels and motels, sit outside this chapter's habitability scheme.