Charleston, SC Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

City Code § 21-61 governs what happens after a nuisance complaint reaches the city: whenever a complaint is made to a city department about a public nuisance as defined in § 21-51, that department must promptly determine whether it has jurisdiction over that type of nuisance or whether a different city department does. If another department has jurisdiction, the receiving department must notify it immediately rather than sit on the complaint. Either way, the department with jurisdiction is required to inspect the property where the nuisance is alleged to exist.

If the inspecting department finds a nuisance that poses an immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare, § 21-61(b) authorizes summary abatement: the department issues notice to the owner and posts the property, and the owner then has 15 days from posting and mailing to remove the nuisance themselves. For nuisances that are confirmed but not urgent, § 21-62 applies a slower process: the department identifies the titled owner through county tax records, serves written notice by personal service, certified mail, or (if those fail) newspaper publication for two consecutive weeks, and gives the owner 30 days to abate under § 21-63. Livability division staff handle the bulk of these intake and inspection duties under § 2-395, covering overgrowth, unregistered vehicles, vacant-structure standards, and graffiti specifically.