Lawrence, KS Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)
Key Facts
- Enforcing officer
- Building safety manager, per Sec. 5-1301
- State law administered
- K.S.A. §§ 12-1750 through 12-1756
- Demolition permit fee
- Set at Lawrence City Code § 5-255
- Permit wait period
- 30 days, waivable for imminent danger
- Permit validity
- 180 days, one 180-day extension allowed
- Violation penalty
- Up to $500 fine or 3 months jail
Summary
In the City of Lawrence, the building safety manager is designated the primary enforcing officer for dangerous, unsafe structures. Before any structure citywide is ordered removed, that officer must consult the fire chief and the health officer and file their reports first. If fire or explosion damaged the building, the fire chief becomes a co-enforcing officer too.
The building safety manager, is hereby designated as the primary enforcing officer for the purpose of administering K.S.A. §§ 12-1750 through 12-1756, inclusive, and amendments thereto. As such enforcing officer, the officer is further directed to consult with the chief of the fire department and the health officer of the city, and file all reports of the officers in the officer's office prior to removal of any structure located within the city. If a structure is damaged by the means of fire or explosion the fire chief or designee shall also be an enforcing officer for the purpose of ordering any action pursuant to K.S.A. § 12-1756.
Full Breakdown
§§ 12-1750 through 12-1756, the state's dangerous-structures statute. § 12-1756 removal order (Sec. 5-1301). In practice, removal of a structure still runs through the city's own demolition-permit rules in Article XIV: a separate demolition permit is required for any building or structure regulated by the International Building Code or International Residential Code (Sec. 5-1401), with a fee set at section 5-255. A demolition permit cannot issue until 30 days after the application unless the building official finds conditions imminently dangerous to life or public health, in which case it may issue immediately (Sec.
5-1406(a)). Once issued, a permit expires after 180 days, though the building official may grant one 180-day extension for good cause (Sec. 5-1407(a)). No demolition permit can issue for a designated landmark or a building within a historic district, or its environs, unless the owner first obtains a certificate of appropriateness or economic hardship from the historic resources commission (Sec. 5-1406(b)), and the building official must forward any such application to that commission within five business days (Sec. 5-1403(b)). A demolition contractor must disconnect utilities, fence and barricade the site, and conduct a final safety walk-through before work begins (Sec. 5-1408).
Violations & Fines
Violating the demolition article, including demolishing a structure without the required permit, carries a fine of up to $500.00 or up to three months in jail, or both, with each day of noncompliance charged as a separate offense (Sec. 5-1410). Owners of landmark or historic-district structures who demolish without first clearing the historic resources commission review face the same penalty, and the enforcing officer's own removal orders proceed under the state dangerous-structures statute the officer administers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who enforces Lawrence's dangerous-structures law?
Do I need a separate permit to demolish a condemned building in Lawrence?
Can a historic Lawrence building be demolished under this process?
What happens if someone demolishes a Lawrence building without a permit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lawrence
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