Chatham County, GA Code Violation Reporting: Common Violations (2026)

A. Title 41, Chapter 2, Sections 7 through 17, and Section 21-703 spells out the conditions that count as a violation once the Director of Inspections investigates. The section triggers on a dwelling, building or structure that is unfit for human habitation, unfit for its current commercial, industrial or business use, or vacant and dilapidated and being used in connection with drug crimes. It also reaches a property with an accumulation of weeds, trash, junk, filth and other unsanitary or unsafe conditions present on it.

An inspection can start from a written request filed by a public authority, by at least five residents of the county, or from the Director's own preliminary finding. Once the Director's investigation supports a charge, Section 21-703(2) requires a formal complaint served on the owner and any parties in interest, stating exactly which conditions exist and which sections of the Code of Chatham County, including its Building Code and Housing Code, are violated. The complaint also carries notice of a hearing under Section 21-704. These are civil abatement violations, not criminal citations: the case runs through a Hearing Officer appointed by the County Manager rather than through Recorder's Court, and it can end in a compliance order or condemnation rather than a fine alone.