Smithtown, NY Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Town Code § 112-25A defines an unsafe building broadly: any building that is structurally unsafe, unsanitary, lacks adequate egress, is a fire hazard, or is otherwise dangerous to human life, or that constitutes a hazard to safety or health because of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence or abandonment. All such buildings are declared unlawful and must be abated by repair and rehabilitation or by demolition. The Chief Building Inspector must examine or cause to be examined every building reported as unsafe or damaged and make a written record of the examination (§ 112-25B).

Once a building is found unsafe, § 112-25C requires the Inspector to serve the owner, agent or person in control with written notice stating the defects and a stated time to either complete repairs or demolish and remove the structure, using the same service method as stop-work orders under § 112-15. If there is actual and immediate danger of collapse endangering life, § 112-25D requires the notice to also order the building vacated immediately, and the Inspector posts a placard reading 'THIS BUILDING/STRUCTURE IS UNSAFE AND ITS USE OR OCCUPANCY HAS BEEN PROHIBITED BY THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT'; removing that notice without written permission is itself unlawful.

In a true emergency involving imminent danger, § 112-25E authorizes the Inspector to enter the building, abutting land or structures without further process, make the structure safe or remove it, vacate adjacent structures, and erect barricades or close a public or private way as needed. Section 112-25F puts the cost of that Town-performed work on the Town's general fund up front, then charges it back to the property owner and allows the Town to collect it as by law provided. A separate chapter, Ch. 115, Buildings, Unsafe, is cross-referenced for additional procedures.