Jackson, TN Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Jackson Municipal Code § 12-901 adopts the Unsafe Building Abatement Code to protect residents from structures unfit for human occupation or use, exercising authority the state legislature granted in Tennessee Code Annotated § 13-21-101 et seq. Section 12-905 lists the conditions that make a building unsafe, including inadequate or disrepaired means of egress, structural stress beyond International Building Code limits, fire or storm damage that leaves a building below current structural standards, and a building that is in such a condition as to constitute a public nuisance or is otherwise dangerous to health and safety.

Under §§ 12-906 through 12-908, the director inspects the property, serves a certified letter of complaint setting a hearing between ten and thirty days out, and, if the building is still found unsafe after the hearing, serves a certified letter of condemnation ordering the owner to vacate, repair, alter, improve or demolish the structure. If the repair cost would exceed seventy-five percent (75%) of the property's taxable value, § 12-908(2) lets the director order removal or demolition outright, and the condemnation letter allows the owner not less than sixty (60) days to comply.

An owner or party in interest has ten (10) days from the letter of condemnation to appeal to the code advisory/appeals board under § 12-909, and any person aggrieved by a final order can file suit in Chancery Court for Madison County under § 12-911. If the owner does not act, § 12-910 lets the director repair or demolish the building at city expense, filing the cost as a lien recorded with the Register of Madison County and collected on the property tax bill, with any leftover proceeds from selling salvaged materials deposited in Chancery Court.