Bellevue, NE Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Under § 8-41, the Bellevue building official classifies a structure as a DANGEROUS BUILDING when it shows leaning or buckled walls whose plumb line falls outside the middle third of the base, 33 percent or more damage to a supporting member (or 50 percent damage to non-supporting walls), overloaded or improperly distributed floor and roof loads, fire or wind damage that endangers occupants, inadequate light, air, sanitation or fire egress, loose parts that could fall on the public, or any violation of Bellevue's building or fire prevention code.

Section 8-42 declares every such building a public nuisance that must be repaired, vacated or demolished. Section 8-46 adds a separate trigger: any building that has deteriorated, from any cause, to 50 percent of its assessed value is also a nuisance, even without a listed structural defect. Once the building official reports a dangerous building to the city clerk under § 8-43, no building permit may issue for that structure without City Council consent. The clerk then schedules a hearing under §§ 8-48 and 8-49, giving the owner, lessee, occupant or mortgagee of record at least five days' written notice (or two newspaper publications if the owner cannot be found or is a nonresident), with the city attorney checking service for legal sufficiency.

At the hearing, the City Council weighs the building official's evidence and the owner's objections; if it finds a public nuisance, it orders by resolution that the building be torn down and removed. If the owner refuses or neglects to comply, § 8-52 lets the building official demolish the structure, clear the debris and place the lot in a safe condition, then bill the cost to the City Council, which levies it as a special assessment lien on the real estate, collected under Nebraska law (Neb. RS §§ 18-1722 et seq.).