Jefferson Parish, LA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Section 19-46 declares any building or structure outside the parish's incorporated cities to be a public nuisance if it endangers public health, safety, morals, or welfare, whether it's occupied or vacant. Section 19-47 spells out six categories of dangerous condition: structurally unsound (walls out of plumb, more than 33 percent deterioration of load-bearing members), unhealthful, a fire hazard, dangerous to human life, unsecured, or unsafe (failing weathertight, watertight, or load-bearing standards). Under Section 19-47(b), any structure that would cost more than 50 percent of its assessed value to repair can be ordered demolished outright, and any structure vacant and boarded for more than six months without an active repair permit and real work underway is automatically deemed blighted, a nuisance, and subject to demolition.

5-7 or transfer it to the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court's Environmental Court Section. If a hearing officer finds a building dangerous under Section 19-49, the order can require it vacated, repaired, or demolished at the owner's choice if repair is feasible, or demolished outright if it is not. An occupied building found dangerous to its occupants must be posted with a notice giving residents 48 hours to vacate. Owners get up to 30 days to comply, though the hearing officer can extend that period, and the case file stays open for three years after compliance in case the condition recurs.

Owners who ignore the order can be held in contempt, and the parish can demolish the structure itself and place a lien on the property for the cost.