Allentown, PA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Under Chapter 12, Article IV of the City Code, the Mayor-appointed Blighted Property Review Committee applies a detailed statutory definition of "blight" drawn from the Property Maintenance Code and the Urban Redevelopment Law. A property qualifies if it is a common-law or code-declared public nuisance, an attractive nuisance to children (open wells, shafts, unsafe fences), a dwelling posted unfit for human habitation for being dilapidated, unsanitary, unsafe or vermin-infested, a fire hazard or otherwise dangerous structure under the Property Maintenance Code's fire-safety article, a structure stripped of utilities or plumbing so it can't be used, a neglected vacant lot collecting trash or vermin, an unoccupied property that has been tax-delinquent for two years, or a vacant property not rehabilitated within one year of a code-enforcement notice to do so.

Before the Committee can certify a property to the Redevelopment Authority, the property must be vacant, and the owner or agent must first be served notice of the blight determination together with an order to eliminate the conditions, following the service procedures in the Property Maintenance Code. § 1701 et seq. The owner has the right to appeal the blight determination the same way a public-nuisance determination is appealed. Certification cannot proceed until the appeal period has lapsed with no appeal filed, or any appeal filed has been resolved against the owner and the owner still has not complied.

A. Sec. , though residential reuse still requires a Planning Commission recommendation at least 30 days before acquisition. An owner who obtains a certificate of occupancy from the Building Safety and Standards Department has the property removed from the blighted list and the process ends.