Scottsdale, AZ Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

1, Heating, added to IBC Chapter 12 by City Code § 31-23, requires that heating facilities be provided, capable of maintaining a room temperature of not less than 68°F (20°C) in all habitable rooms, bathrooms and toilet rooms, calculated against the 34°F winter design temperature the International Plumbing Code assigns to Phoenix. The same section expressly states that cooking appliances and portable space heaters shall not be used to achieve compliance, closing off the two most common workarounds a landlord might otherwise rely on to claim a unit meets the standard.

2, sets a matching cooling floor: facilities capable of holding room temperature at or below 85°F against Phoenix's 107°F summer design temperature. Both requirements exempt Group F, H, S and U occupancies (factory, high-hazard, storage and utility uses) and any interior space not intended for human comfort, but apply fully to residential dwelling units. The same 2022 amendment package added Section 1211, Sanitation, requiring every dwelling unit to have a kitchen sink and counter/cabinet area, and a kitchen cabinet pull-out compartment with at least two 7-gallon bins for trash and recyclables; multifamily buildings of 4 or more stories must also provide trash and recycling chutes or floor-level collection areas.

2 and 1211 form the baseline habitability floor that Scottsdale's Building Safety division checks against when it inspects a rental unit for a code complaint.