Chapel Hill, NC Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

After the notice-and-hearing process in § 9-23, the Chapel Hill housing inspector states a written determination under § 9-24 of whether a dwelling or dwelling unit is unfit for human habitation and, if so, whether the condition is merely deteriorated or fully dilapidated. A deteriorated dwelling gets a repair order with a deadline of up to 90 days, extendable to one year for an owner-occupied home or 180 days for a non-owner-occupied home for good cause. A dilapidated dwelling gets an order to vacate, close, and remove or demolish within 90 days; the owner has ten days to notify the code enforcement official of intent to repair instead, after which the inspector sets a repair window of 30 to 90 days, again extendable up to a year or 180 days for good cause.

A historic-district exception under § 9-24(e) lets the historic district commission preserve a dilapidated dwelling of particular significance, consistent with N.C.G.S. § 160D-949, if it has not been condemned as unsafe. If the owner fails to comply, § 9-25 authorizes the inspector, after the Town Council orders it by a separate ordinance describing the property, to repair, vacate, close, remove, or demolish the dwelling itself and post a placard reading that the building is unfit for human habitation and its use is prohibited and unlawful.

Under § 9-34, the cost of any town-performed repair or demolition becomes a lien on the property, collected the same way as a special assessment lien under Chapter 160A, Article 10 of the General Statutes.