Johnston County, NC Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Section 5-34 sets the dividing line the county uses to classify a substandard dwelling: 'Deteriorated' means unfit for habitation but repairable to meet minimum standards at a cost of 50 percent or less of its tax value, while 'Dilapidated' means unfit for habitation and not repairable to meet those standards except at a cost exceeding 50 percent of tax value, the threshold at which the county treats a structure as beyond economical repair rather than merely substandard. 'Unfit for human habitation' is defined simply as any condition that violates one or more of the minimum standards in the article.

Section 5-68 hands enforcement to a code official within a division of property maintenance inspection: the official inspects on complaint, has right of entry subject to constitutional search limits, and on finding a violation serves written notice. If the owner does not comply, the code official shall institute the appropriate proceeding at law or in equity to restrain, correct or abate such violation, or to require the removal or termination of the unlawful occupancy of the structure, civil abatement rather than an automatic demolition order. Each day a violation continues after notice counts as a separate offense, and the county may bill the violator for the cost of the inspections. Section 5-69 gives any person directly affected 20 days from a notice to appeal to the property maintenance appeals board, presently the board of county commissioners sitting in that capacity, which can modify or reverse the code official's decision only by a majority vote of its full appointed membership, with judicial review by writ of certiorari available within 30 days of the board's decision.