Gwinnett County, GA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Article VII of Chapter 14 opens with § 14-255, which titles the whole article the Gwinnett County Property Maintenance Ordinance, and § 14-256, which states its purpose is establishing minimum requirements and standards for premises and structures to promote and protect public health, safety, convenience, order, and general welfare. Section 14-257 sets its scope across commercial, office, industrial, multifamily, and single-family structures and premises as minimum standards for existing buildings. A § 8-2-25 by reference, and § 14-350 rewrites the adopted code's own scope section to apply only to structures and premises that are not occupied by the owner and are being rented or made available for rent, covering light, ventilation, space, heating, sanitation, protection from the elements, and a reasonable level of fire safety.

The amendment renames the enforcing office the Code Enforcement Division and puts the director of planning and development, or a designee, in charge as the code official. It deletes the model code's own unlawful-acts, prosecution, and violation-penalty sections outright, folding enforcement instead into the county's own penalty and notice framework, and it rewrites the notice-of-violation form requirement to demand a written notice describing the property, stating the violation, and giving a reasonable correction period. Notably, the amendment deletes the model code's Means of Appeal section (Section 111) in its entirety, and routes unsafe-structure determinations and demolition to Article II of Chapter 38 instead of the model code's own procedures.