Spalding County, GA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Spalding County adopted its unfit buildings chapter by Ordinance No. 2025-77 on July 7, 2025, and also adopted O.C.G.A. §§ 41-2-7 through 41-2-16 by reference under § 8-2001 to give the county the state abatement procedure. Under § 8-2002(1), every owner of a dwelling, building, structure, or property in unincorporated Spalding County must maintain it in conformance with county ordinances, and any violation is declared a public nuisance. The director of the Department of Community Development, or a designee, serves as the public officer who runs the process.

Under § 8-2002(3), the public officer must investigate once at least five residents of the unincorporated area, or a public authority, file a written complaint alleging that a property is unfit for habitation or commercial use, is vacant and connected to drug crimes, or is otherwise unsafe or unsanitary. Section 8-2003(2) lists the specific conditions that make a structure a nuisance: code violations, inadequate ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open space, imminent danger from fire or a natural disaster, vacancy tied to drug crimes, repeated criminal use, abandonment, or any other unsanitary or unsafe condition endangering public health or safety.

If the public officer files a complaint, a court hearing is held between fifteen and forty-five days later under § 8-2002(3), and if the court finds the property unfit it orders repair or demolition within a set time. If the owner does not comply, the public officer can have the work done and must post a placard on the structure declaring it unfit and its use unlawful, per § 8-2002(5).