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

Gilroy folds statewide habitability rules into its own Property Maintenance Code amendments at City Code section 6.7(i). Amendment (44) rewrites IPMC section 602.2, Residential occupancies, to require that dwellings carry heating facilities able to hold 68 degrees Fahrenheit in every habitable room, bathroom and toilet room; amendment (45) then deletes the code's seasonal exception, so the heating duty is not limited to a defined heating period. A landlord cannot point to a fireplace, a cooking appliance or a portable space heater as satisfying this requirement: section 602.2 says none of those can be used as the means of compliance.

The amendments also rewrite section 602.3's winter design-temperature exception to fix the outdoor design figure at 32 degrees Fahrenheit for the locality, and delete a second listed exception outright. Habitability enforcement runs through the unsafe-conditions process in IPMC section 109.1, amended by item (8): when the code official finds a structure unsafe or unfit for human occupancy, it must be posted and declared a public nuisance, with the violation abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal. Related amendments reinforce livability: section 304.15 requires that locks at every dwelling and sleeping unit entrance tightly secure the door, section 304.7 requires roofs and flashing to stay sound and watertight, and section 305.1 requires the interior, including cabinets, counters and hardware, to stay in good, sanitary repair.

Together these sections give a Gilroy tenant a concrete, numeric heating floor and a nuisance-abatement path against an owner who lets a rental fall into disrepair.