Farmington Hills, MI Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Sec. 17-51 declares that blighted areas impair taxable value and threaten public health, safety and welfare, and authorizes the anti-blight article to rehabilitate them. Sec. 17-52(a) enumerates the causes of blight it bans on any property, owned, leased, rented or occupied, in a residentially zoned area: junk or inoperative automobiles stored outside an enclosed building for more than 30 days, unlicensed recreational equipment stored more than six months, building materials kept without an active building permit, accumulated junk or refuse beyond 30 days, partially completed construction not diligently pursued under a valid permit, unsecured vacant dwellings or outbuildings, and, as listed in subsection (5), any structure 'no longer habitable as a dwelling nor useful for any other purpose for which it may have been intended' because of fire, wind, other natural disaster or physical deterioration.

Sec. 17-52(b) extends these same causes to non-residential zones unless the use is incidental to a lawful business on the property. Enforcement runs through Sec. 17-53: the building inspector or code enforcement officer inspects the city, serves written notice on the owner and occupant, and gives 10 days to remove the blighting condition. If the owner ignores the notice, the city manager or a designee can call a show-cause hearing, issue a removal order, and, after another 10 days of noncompliance, have the city clean up the property itself and charge the cost as a lien, a tax-roll assessment, a special tax, or a lawsuit against the owner, plus administrative costs including inspections, postage and legal expenses.