Fort Collins, CO Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Sec. 20-111 defines 'nuisance activity' to include, at item (41), 'Violations of the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code - Code §§ 5-46 and 5-47,' the chapter that adopts IPMC standards for dangerous, substandard and unsafe structures; a 'public nuisance' is any repeated or continuing nuisance activity that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to public health, safety or welfare. Under Sec. 20-112, a code enforcement officer with probable cause may enter a property without a warrant to abate a nuisance, but must get consent or a search warrant to enter a building, residential curtilage or a fenced enclosure, except in an emergency threatening life or safety.

Sec. 20-113 requires a notice to abate giving the owner, lessee or agent 24 hours to correct a nuisance posing an imminent risk of injury or damage, or 7 days for other nuisances (longer if the officer finds more time reasonable). If the City abates the nuisance itself, Sec. 20-118 makes the owner liable for the City's internal and external abatement costs, due within 45 days of invoicing, accruing 8 percent annual interest if unpaid, and becoming a perpetual lien on the property with priority over all but general taxes and prior special assessments.

Division 2 (Sec. 20-125) makes failing to abate after notice, or interfering with abatement, a misdemeanor; Division 3 (Sec. 20-130) instead lets an officer issue a civil penalty assessment. Division 4 (Sec. 20-135) covers 'chronic nuisance property' status (three or more nuisance activities in 90 days, or seven in a year, for single-owner residential property), requiring the owner to submit a written abatement plan within 10 days of notice or face a civil action to abate the property.