Buena Park, CA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Municipal Code § 15.24.010 lets the city council declare a nuisance any building or structure that is structurally unsafe, partially destroyed by fire, or dilapidated from old age, abandonment, neglect or decay, so long as it constitutes a fire menace, fire hazard or is dangerous to human life. Under § 15.24.015, when the building official finds imminent danger from an unsafe vacant, unoccupied or abandoned residential structure, the official can immediately enter the property to board up openings and secure it, with those costs recoverable as an abatement cost under §§ 15.24.100 through 15.24.120.

For a formal nuisance case, the council first adopts a resolution of intention under § 15.24.020, which the city clerk records with the Orange County recorder. The building official then posts a "Notice of Hearing to Abate Building or Structure" on the property and mails a copy to the owner at least fifteen days before the council hearing, per §§ 15.24.040 through 15.24.060. At the hearing, the council decides under § 15.24.070 whether the building is a nuisance and, if so, orders it abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal under § 15.24.080, giving the owner thirty days, or a longer period the council sets, to comply before the city abates it by city forces or private contract; the owner keeps the right to complete the work at their own expense before that deadline under § 15.24.090.

If the city performs the work, § 15.24.100 requires an itemized cost report posted on the property for fifteen days and mailed to the owner before the council confirms it under § 15.24.110. Confirmed costs become a special assessment lien on the parcel under § 15.24.120, added to the property's regular tax bill and collected, with the same penalties and foreclosure exposure, as ordinary municipal taxes. Section 15.24.130 makes this abatement procedure non-exclusive, letting the city attorney pursue a civil action instead of or alongside it.