Leon County, FL Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Sec. 14-20 finds that dilapidated structures blight neighborhoods, depreciate surrounding property values and threaten public health and safety, authorizing the Board of County Commissioners to spend county funds abating them. Sec. 14-21 makes any dilapidated structure, defined in Sec. 14-2 as a building with structural defects from failed repairs, deterioration or decay that threatens public health, safety or welfare, a prohibited public nuisance, with every owner responsible for correcting it at his own expense. Sec. 14-22 sends first enforcement to the Code Enforcement Board under Chapter 6; if an owner ignores that board's compliance order, the county escalates to the seven-member Nuisance Abatement Board under Article V.

That board can find a building unsafe from factors including unsecured dangerous conditions, an owner's history of failing to control the property, a pattern of attracting children or transients, or a history of criminal activity tied to dilapidation, and can then order demolition, repair to make the building safe, or vacating the premises. Sec. 14-52 requires the code inspector to give the violator notice and a reasonable time to abate before referring the case, followed by a sworn hearing where the board issues written findings; a recorded order binds later purchasers.

Sec. 14-55 lets the County Administrator demolish or secure a structure immediately, without a hearing first, if it poses imminent peril to life or safety, with notice and a chance for a hearing to follow. Sec. 14-54 lets the county recover its abatement costs by mailing a notice of cost, then recording a lien after 30 days unpaid, foreclosable through the County Attorney's office, though not against homestead property under Article X, Section 4 of the state constitution.