Wayne County, NC Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 14-153 makes compliance with the county's minimum housing standards, Sec. 14-154 through 14-158, a condition of both owner-occupancy and renting a dwelling in unincorporated Wayne County; excluded are transportable and temporary migrant-labor housing and mobile homes, which fall under Division 2's separate manufactured-home rules. Sec. 14-154 requires walls, floors, roofs and foundations free of structural rot or damage, safe stairs and porches, adequate egress under the state residential code, weathertight exteriors, and chimneys free of fire hazard. Sec. 14-155 sets the equipment floor: every unit needs a connection to potable water and public sewer or an approved disposal system, a kitchen sink, lavatory, tub or shower and water closet meeting state plumbing code standards, and heat sufficient to hold 68 degrees Fahrenheit, three feet above the floor, during ordinary winter conditions, whether from central or electric heat or from fireplaces, chimneys, flues or gas vents.

Every habitable room needs at least two electric receptacles or, absent fixed lighting, three receptacles, wired to the National Electrical Code standard in force when the home was built. Sec. 14-156 requires an operable window at least eight percent of a habitable room's floor area unless mechanical ventilation is provided. Sec. 14-157 sets minimum room sizes, starting at 150 square feet of habitable area for one occupant, and a seven-foot-six-inch ceiling over at least half of every habitable room's floor area. A landlord who lets a unit failing any of these standards, and an occupant who lets a unit be occupied in violation, are both bound by Sec. 14-153's flat compliance requirement.