Rockingham County, VA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger
- Board resolution finding a building unsafe
- Owner notice
- Reasonable notice required before action
- County self-help
- County may repair/remove/secure after inaction
- Cost recovery method
- Billed to owner, collected as taxes
- Nonpayment consequence
- Becomes a lien on the property
Summary
Rockingham County's board of supervisors can order, by resolution and after reasonable notice, an owner to remove, repair or secure a building, wall or other structure that endangers public health or safety. If the owner fails to act, county crews can do the work themselves and bill the owner, with any unpaid cost becoming a lien on the property.
(a)Owners of property within the county shall, whenever prescribed by resolution of the board of supervisors, remove, repair or secure any building, wall or any other structure which might endanger the public health or safety or other residents of the county. Such resolution shall include a provision for reasonable notice to be given to such owner. ... (c)In the event that the board of supervisors, through its own agents or employees removes, repairs or secures any building, wall or any other structure after complying with the notice provisions of this section, the cost or expenses thereof shall be chargeable to and paid by the owners of such property and may be collected by the county as taxes and levies are collected.(d)Every charge authorized by this section with which the owner of any such property shall have been assessed and which remains unpaid shall constitute a lien against such property.
Full Breakdown
Section 6-6(a) authorizes the board of supervisors to require, by resolution, that owners of property within the county remove, repair or secure any building, wall or other structure that might endanger the public health or safety of county residents, and requires the resolution to include a provision for reasonable notice to the owner before that duty attaches. Subsection (b) lets the board, through its own agents or employees, step in and remove, repair or secure the same kind of dangerous building, wall or structure when the owner, after receiving reasonable notice and a reasonable time to act, has failed to do so.
Subsection (c) shifts the cost of that county-performed work onto the property owner: the expense becomes chargeable to and payable by the owner and is collected by the county in the same manner as taxes and levies. Subsection (d) backs that recovery with a property lien, providing that every assessed charge under the section that remains unpaid constitutes a lien against the property itself, giving the county a real security interest rather than just a personal debt claim. The section sits in Chapter 6's general article alongside the county's adoption of the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and its abatement authority runs separately from, and in addition to, the misdemeanor penalty for building code violations found in section 6-8.
Violations & Fines
An owner who ignores a board resolution and reasonable notice under section 6-6 faces the county performing the repair, removal or securing work itself and billing the full cost back to the owner, collected the same way county taxes and levies are collected. Any part of that bill left unpaid becomes a lien against the property under section 6-6(d), separate from any misdemeanor exposure the underlying building code violation may carry under section 6-8.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Rockingham County force me to fix a dangerous building on my property?
What happens if I don't make the repairs myself?
What if I can't pay the county's bill for the work?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rockingham County
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