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

Housing Code Section 1001, in Chapter 10, sets a test with a threshold built into it. A residential building is substandard when a condition enumerated in the chapter exists, and that condition exists to an extent that endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety, or welfare of the public or the occupants. The enumerated conditions include lack of hot and cold running water, inadequate heating or ventilation, insect or rodent infestation, structural hazards, hazardous wiring or plumbing, and faulty weather protection. Both requirements matter in practice.

A listed defect that stops short of endangering anyone does not, by itself, make the building substandard under this section. At the same time, the endangerment clause reaches beyond the tenants to cover the public as well, so a hazard that threatens neighbors or passersby qualifies even if the occupants themselves are not the ones at risk. The section also applies to "any residential building or portion thereof," so a single unit or a portion of a building can be declared substandard even where the rest of the building is sound.

The consequence is automatic: any building or portion determined to be substandard under Section 1001 is also declared a nuisance as provided in Section 401. That nuisance declaration is what turns the finding from a label into an enforcement tool, subjecting the owner to Department of Building Inspection code enforcement and abatement action.