Charlotte, NC Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

61 gives the Council authority to adopt ordinances allowing city inspectors to enter any premises, building, or structure to determine whether it is unsafe or dangerous to life or property from defects or dilapidation, and to order that unsafe conditions plus filth and trash on the property be repaired or removed. The Council may also condemn a building as unsafe and dangerous and bar further use or occupancy. An owner who fails, after notice, hearing and a formal order, to repair or remove a condemned building is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, the same penalty used across the Code for ordinance violations.

The City Clerk must certify the notice and order and file it with the Clerk of Superior Court for Mecklenburg County in the Record of Lis Pendens, which binds the owner's successors and assigns from the recording date forward. If the owner still fails to act, or cannot be located after a diligent search and published notice, the City itself may enter the property, remedy the unsafe condition, or demolish and remove the structure, then charge the cost to the owner. That cost becomes a lien on the premises with the same priority as an unpaid property tax lien, collectible the same way as delinquent taxes, and it carries interest of not less than 6 percent nor more than 12 percent per year, set annually by the Council. City code enforcement staff use this Charter authority together with the Minimum Housing Code to pursue condemnation and demolition of derelict structures citywide.