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

Chapter 3½, the parish's property standards code adopted by Ordinance No. S. 33:4754, empowers a property standards board of appeals with the powers listed in Section 3½-13(a). Subsection (3) lets the board order the demolition and removal of structures found to be substandard, specifying that the work may be accomplished by the use of parish forces or a private contractor retained by the parish, with the costs of demolition and/or removal being the responsibility of the owner. The board's other Section 3½-13(a) powers include ordering a dwelling vacated and placarded if unfit for habitation, ordering repairs as an alternative to demolition, ordering removal of personal property from a condemned structure, ordering a hazardous vacant structure secured, and ordering abatement of any nuisance defined in Section 3½-34.

Under Section 3½-17, before ordering demolition the board must weigh the economic feasibility of repair, and can instead order repair with a deadline, warning that failure to comply sends the case to the parish attorney for prosecution or foreclosure. If the parish carries out the demolition, Section 3½-19 gives it a lien and privilege against the property for the cost, which can be added to the owner's ad valorem tax bill and, if unpaid six months after filing, sold to satisfy the lien.