Tippecanoe County, IN Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

C. 36-7-9-1 through 36-7-9-28; if the chapter conflicts with that state law, the statute controls. 02 supplements the state definition of an unsafe building with 18 specific conditions covering the unincorporated county: inadequate fire exits, floor or stair surfaces too worn or warped for safe egress, structural stress exceeding one and one-half times the allowed working stress, wind resistance less than half of new-construction standards, 33% or more damage to supporting members or 50% to non-supporting members, dilapidation likely to cause partial or complete collapse, and buildings so damaged or abandoned for more than six months that they become an attractive nuisance.

A dwelling can also be declared unsafe if the Health Officer finds it unsanitary or unfit for human habitation, or if the fire official or State Fire Marshal calls it a fire hazard. 02(A)(18)). 03 declares it a public nuisance to be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal. 04. C. 06 limits the Building Commissioner to determining compliance with existing standards, barring any arbitrary or discretionary add-on requirements. 07 bars anyone from erecting, altering, repairing, moving, using, occupying, or maintaining a building contrary to the chapter or a Commissioner's order.