Dearborn County, IN Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Chapter 154 of the Dearborn County Code is the Unsafe Building Law of Dearborn County, Indiana, adopted by the Board of Commissioners as Ord. 2014-003 on 2-18-14. Section 154.01 applies it throughout the unincorporated areas of the county, so Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Greendale and the other incorporated towns are outside it. Section 154.02 incorporates I.C. 36-7-9-1 through 36-7-9-29 by reference and provides that the state code controls if the two conflict.

Section 154.06(A) defines an unsafe building by six conditions: impaired structural condition, fire hazard, hazard to public health, public nuisance, danger from a violation of a building condition or maintenance statute or ordinance, or vacant and not maintained so that it allows human habitation, occupancy or use. Under § 154.06(B) the unsafe premises include both the building and the tract it sits on. Section 154.04 declares every building found unsafe after inspection to be a public nuisance that must be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal.

The Dearborn County Building Inspector administers the law under § 154.03, and the Building Department is the department named in § 154.05. Orders under § 154.07 carry the remedies and the time limit set by I.C. 36-7-9-5, and each person with a substantial property interest in the premises must be notified. An order to seal a building, meaning padlocking and posting it after an inspection confirms nobody is inside, goes to each holder of a fee interest or life estate and becomes final ten days after issuance unless that holder asks in writing for a hearing. The Board of Commissioners acts as the primary hearing board under § 154.05.

Under § 154.09 the county can act without an order or notice to remove an immediate danger, and it can recover those costs by suit in Dearborn Circuit Court. Section 154.11 puts the cost of repair or demolition on the owners of fee or life estate interests, and unpaid costs can become a judgment against their real or personal property. Section 154.12 creates an Unsafe Building Fund, and § 154.14 lets the enforcement authority obtain an inspection warrant from Dearborn Circuit Court when an owner refuses entry.