York County, VA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 7.1-4(a) writes specific pieces of the Virginia Maintenance Code (VMC), the maintenance-of-existing-structures part of the VUSBC, directly into York County's own Code. Chapter 6 of the VMC ('Mechanical and Electrical Requirements') applies to all existing buildings in the county, but the ordinance carves out one exception: 'single family residential private dwellings which are not rented, leased or let.' Read the other way, a single-family house the owner rents out loses that exemption and must meet the VMC's mechanical and electrical maintenance standards like any other occupied building.

Chapter 7 ('Fire Safety Requirements') applies to all buildings except those in use group R-5 (detached one- and two-family homes and townhouses), and Section 403.3 ('Cooking Facilities') applies specifically to any rooming or dormitory unit, covering shared or boardinghouse-style rental arrangements the standard residential code does not otherwise reach. These adopted VMC provisions are not self-executing; Sec. 7.1-4(b) puts enforcement in the hands of the building code official, with the fire code official handling fire-safety findings, and enforcement is triggered 'when an unsafe condition is discovered.' The building official carries the same duties, powers, and immunities under the maintenance code as under the VUSBC generally.

A landlord or tenant who disputes a maintenance finding can appeal to the Board of Building Code Appeals, which Sec. 7.1-4(c) designates as the appeals body for Virginia Maintenance Code determinations countywide.