Jefferson County, MO Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

320 lists eighteen defect categories that make a structure "dangerous," including immediate danger to life or property, insufficient fire-resisting construction, inadequate means of egress, overloaded floors or roofs, thirty-three percent or greater damage to supporting members, fifty percent or greater damage to non-supporting walls, a plumb-line lean past the middle third of the base, vacancy exceeding six months combined with an unsafe condition, and any structure used to manufacture methamphetamine. Every dangerous building is declared a public nuisance and must be repaired, vacated, or demolished.

The Code Official serves notice on the owner, occupant, lessee, mortgagee, and any other interested party shown in the Recorder of Deeds' land records, either personally, by certified mail, or by posting on the property, and must post a placard on the structure itself. Recipients have ten calendar days to appeal the declaration to the Jefferson County Municipal Court, where the Municipal Judge sits as an Administrative Hearing Officer and conducts a contested-case hearing under Chapter 536, RSMo, with at least fifteen days' written notice.

If no timely appeal is filed, or the Court upholds the declaration, and the owner still fails to comply, the Code Official abates the nuisance directly and certifies the cost to the County Clerk, who adds it to the property's real estate tax bill; unpaid certified costs become a lien on the property and are collected as delinquent taxes. Where a fire-damage insurance claim exceeds fifty percent of the policy's face value, the insurer must withhold twenty-five percent of the payout for the County pending abatement. In an immediate-danger emergency the Code Official may act without waiting out the notice period, with costs recoverable by the County Counselor.