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

Sedona City Code Chapter 5.25 regulates short-term, vacation, and transient lodging rentals citywide, and SCC 5.25.050(E) sets the habitability baseline for those units. The section states the purpose directly: it exists 'to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of all short-term rental occupants.' Rather than restating a separate rental housing code, it incorporates by reference 'the minimum standards for habitable structures set forth in the city code,' meaning a short-term rental must satisfy the same structural, sanitation, and safety baseline that governs habitable buildings generally under Sedona's adopted building code (SCC Title 15).

This gives code enforcement and the short-term rental specialist a concrete hook: if a unit lacks working plumbing, safe electrical systems, adequate egress, or basic sanitation required for a habitable structure, it is out of compliance with 5.25.050(E) even without a separate rental-inspection ordinance. The same subsection gives the city an inspection tool: 'The city may require inspection if it has a reason for concern that the short-term rental may not be compliant with the city code.' That is a triggered, reason-based inspection power, not a routine annual inspection program.

It sits alongside the broader compliance duty in SCC 5.25.050(B), which requires every short-term rental to comply with 'federal, state, and local laws, including laws relating to public health and safety, sanitation, solid waste, hazardous waste ... property maintenance, and nuisance abatement.' Failure to maintain a habitable structure is also enforceable as a permit violation: three verified violations of Chapter 5.25 within 12 months, or a single violation rising to a serious health and safety threat, can trigger permit suspension for up to 12 months under SCC 5.25.110(A), following written notice and a right to request a hearing within 15 days.