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

Section 7-15-3570 of the Ordinance Code authorizes abatement, by repair, rehabilitation or removal, of any structure an enforcement officer determines to be both a substandard building and a public nuisance, proceeding under Article 35 and/or Health and Safety Code § 17980 et seq. In cases of extreme hardship to an owner-occupant, the enforcement officer or the County Hearing Officer may defer the effective date of an abatement order. Section 7-15-3580 requires the officer to prepare a notice of violation and order to abate and serve it on the record owner, plus anyone known to be in possession of the property, including tenants, and any mortgagee, deed-of-trust beneficiary or other lienholder; where the condition is imminently dangerous, the notice can also order the building vacated pending abatement.

Section 7-15-3590 spells out what that notice must contain: the enforcement officer's contact information, the owner's name from Assessor/Clerk-Recorder records, the property's address or parcel number, the specific code provisions violated, a description of the substandard conditions, and an order to fully abate within forty-five days of service, or sooner for an immediate threat. That forty-five-day window extends to sixty days after a new owner takes title if the new owner is diligently abating the property, again unless a shorter period is needed to address an immediate threat.

The notice must also state the right to request administrative review by filing a written request with the Director within fifteen calendar days of service, and it must include a local contact number, a website if one exists, and an appeal form. Article 35 applies only within unincorporated Tulare County; renters inside Visalia, Tulare, Porterville, Dinuba and the county's other cities look to that city's own habitability code.