Kenton County, KY Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Chapter 97 of the Kenton County Code of Ordinances creates a vacant and abandoned residential property registration program aimed at properties in the foreclosure pipeline, so that lender and owner neglect does not blight surrounding neighborhoods. Before a creditor or owner ever files a foreclosure complaint or executes a deed in lieu of foreclosure, they must first inspect the property to determine whether it is vacant or abandoned. The code defines VACANT or ABANDONED broadly: no legal resident or tenant, plus evidence such as overgrown or dead vegetation, accumulated mail or flyers, disconnected utilities, missing window coverings or furnishings, or neighbor and delivery-person statements confirming no one lives there.

If the inspection turns up a vacant or abandoned property, the petitioning creditor or owner has ten days from filing the foreclosure complaint (or ten business days from executing the deed in lieu) to register it as a vacant property with Planning and Development Services of Kenton County. If a property is still occupied but in default, the creditor, owner, or a designee must re-inspect it at least once every 30 days until the foreclosure action is dismissed, the property passes to a third party by Master Commissioner's deed, or it is otherwise transferred.

Registration must include the property address, the petitioning creditor's or owner's name, and the name, address, and phone number of a Kentucky-based agent authorized to accept service of process. Registrants pay an initial $150 fee, renewable annually, until the case is dismissed, the property is legally reoccupied, or title transfers to an unaffiliated third party.