Roseville, MN Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Roseville treats poorly maintained buildings as public nuisances under Chapter 405. Section 405.02(2) declares two things a nuisance affecting public comfort or repose: buildings, fences and other structures so poorly maintained that their physical condition and appearance detract from the surrounding neighborhood, and any building, fence or other structure that does not comply with chapter 906 or the five listed standards. Those standards cover exterior doors and shutters, cornices and similar projections, roof surfaces and roof drainage, chimneys and antennae, and foundations.

The dangerous end of the spectrum is Section 405.03(2), a nuisance affecting public health and safety: buildings, walls and other structures damaged by fire, decay or otherwise to an extent exceeding one-half their replacement value, or so situated as to endanger the safety of the public, or by order of the building official. Chapter 906 adds condemnation. Under Section 906.03(i) a structure found by the code official to be unsafe, unfit for human occupancy or unlawful is condemned, and an unsafe structure includes one so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, structurally unsafe or of such faulty construction or unstable foundation that partial or complete collapse is possible.

Section 405.06 authorizes the community development director to administer Chapter 405, except that nuisances affecting the public right-of-way, sanitary or storm sewer go to the public works director. Under Section 405.07 the enforcing officer notifies the owner or occupant in writing, describes the nuisance, specifies the steps to abate it and sets a deadline not exceeding 30 days. Notice is served in person, by regular or certified mail, or by posting. If the deadline passes, the officer reports to the city council and gives at least ten days' notice of the date the council will consider abatement, after which the council can abate after an opportunity to be heard. A nuisance that poses an immediate threat to public health or safety can be abated at once with no hearing.

The owner is personally liable for the cost of city abatement, including administrative costs, under Section 405.08(a). Unpaid charges for a public health or safety hazard on private property can be assessed against the parcel under Minn. Stat. § 429.101, certified to the county auditor and collected with taxes, in annual installments not exceeding ten.