Gulfport, MS Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)
Key Facts
- Enacted
- Ord. 2830, July 7, 2015
- Old slab defined as
- Built before Aug. 29, 2005
- Enforcement office
- Code Enforcement Office
- Abatement deadline
- 30 days after order/conviction
- Repeat violation
- Each day = separate misdemeanor
- City self-abatement
- Cost levied on property tax bill
Summary
Gulfport declares old, pre-Katrina slabs and pilings left standing after a home is gone to be a public nuisance under Sec. 4-202, requiring owners of developed and vacant property to keep their land free of them or face misdemeanor prosecution and city abatement billed to the property's tax roll.
Old, pre-used slabs and/or pilings, and other objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary matter are hereby declared to be a nuisance. Any slab, piling, or property that is in a state of dilapidation, deterioration, damage, decay, or disrepair, is of faulty or insufficient construction, is open to intrusion, abandoned, damaged by fire, storm, hurricane, or neglect to the extent as not to provide shelter, is extremely unsound, in danger of collapse or failure, constitutes a fire hazard, causes flooding or drainage problems, violates any flood prevention ordinance, and/or violates the city's adopted building codes, and that constitute a threat to the public health, safety and welfare are hereby declared to be a nuisance. No person shall allow, erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or permit any such slab, piling, and/or nuisance outside, on, or in any property within the city.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 68).
Full Breakdown
Article VIII of Chapter 4, added by Ordinance No. 2830 on July 7, 2015, targets a specifically post-Katrina problem: concrete or masonry foundations and pilings left behind after the structure they supported is gone. Sec. 4-203 defines a 'slab' as any foundation or pavement that is old, meaning constructed before August 29, 2005, and pre-used, meaning it previously carried a structure; the same section defines 'vacant property' as any premises that had a building within the twenty years before the ordinance's adoption whose structure no longer stands, including a lot with only a foundational slab remaining.
Sec. 4-202 declares such slabs and pilings a nuisance where they are dilapidated, deteriorated, faulty, open to intrusion, abandoned, damaged by fire, storm, hurricane or neglect, structurally unsound, a fire hazard, a cause of flooding or drainage problems, or in violation of a flood-prevention ordinance or the city's building codes, and Sec. 4-204 requires owners, occupants or persons in charge of developed or vacant property to keep it free of such slabs and pilings. Enforcement runs through the City of Gulfport Code Enforcement Office: Sec.
4-205 lets the inspector either charge a violator directly with a misdemeanor, triable in Municipal Court, or first give notice of a City Council hearing (by certified mail or, if the owner is unknown, newspaper publication) at which the owner can contest the nuisance finding before the Council orders abatement within thirty days.
Violations & Fines
A person convicted of maintaining a nuisance slab or piling under Sec. 4-205 must abate it within thirty days of conviction; failing that, Sec. 4-207 charges each additional day the nuisance continues as a separate misdemeanor, punished up to the maximum fine allowed under Mississippi law for each day. If the property is still not abated after thirty more days, the city abates it itself and levies the cost against the property's tax bill for the coming year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are old concrete slabs from a demolished home illegal to leave in Gulfport?
What happens if I don't remove a nuisance slab after Gulfport orders it abated?
How does the city notify a property owner before declaring a nuisance?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Gulfport
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