Cayuga County, NY Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Under Code of Cayuga County § 132-9, the Code Enforcement Officer and code enforcement personnel may inspect, or seek an owner's permission to inspect, any building, structure or equipment that appears on its face to be kept in an unsafe manner presenting a hazard to health, safety and welfare, or to be in violation of the Uniform Code or Energy Code. Once an unsafe condition is found, the officer must revoke any certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate, notify the owner personally or by registered mail, and issue a written compliance order under § 132-15 directing the owner to remedy the condition within a stated deadline.

That order must specify the violated provision, the time allowed to comply, and state that a court action can follow if the deadline is missed. Beyond the compliance order, § 132-15 lets the Code Enforcement Officer and inspectors issue appearance tickets, and authorizes a civil penalty of up to $200 per day the violation continues, recoverable in an action brought in the County's name. Where construction or use of a building violates the Uniform Code or an outstanding order, the County may go further and seek an injunction in Supreme Court directing removal of the structure or abatement of the condition, but only after the County Legislature specifically authorizes that court action.

This unsafe-building process runs through Chapter 132, the county's administration of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, which the county enforces for towns that have signed on to it under § 132-17's intermunicipal agreement authority; a town handling its own code enforcement is not covered here.