Burke County, NC Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Article II of chapter 10, the county's housing code, puts inspection authority in the hands of the building code administrator of the Burke County building inspection department. Section 10-33 makes it that officer's duty to investigate dwelling conditions and inspect dwellings and dwelling units countywide to determine which ones are unfit for human habitation, to keep a record of inspection results, and to maintain an inventory of substandard dwellings. Section 10-34 backs that duty with powers: the administrator can administer oaths, examine witnesses, receive evidence, appoint agents, and, most directly relevant to a property owner, enter premises to make examinations and inspections, so long as the entry is lawful and causes the least possible inconvenience to whoever is in possession.

Section 10-35 sets the actual access rule that residents will encounter: the administrator is authorized to enter, examine and survey all dwellings, dwelling units, rooming units and premises at all reasonable times, but an owner or occupant must be given one week's notice before that access is required; once notice is given, the owner or person in charge must give the administrator free access for the inspection. The same section also obligates an occupant to give the owner, or the owner's agent, access to make any repairs or alterations needed to comply with the housing code or with an order issued under it.

An inspection under this process feeds directly into chapter 10's enforcement track: if the administrator's investigation and a subsequent notice-and-hearing under § 10-36 find a dwelling unfit, the administrator can then order repair or demolition, with noncompliance treated as a separate misdemeanor offense for each day it continues under § 10-28.