In unincorporated Spokane County, letting your property fall into a blighting condition is a nuisance. SCC Chapter 6.13 makes anyone in charge maintain their property free of nuisances that depress land values or endanger community health and safety.
The county's 2025-adopted nuisance chapter (SCC 6.13) targets blight directly: it exists to eliminate conditions that 'create blight, depress land values, generate health hazards' and attract illegal dumping. Every person 'has a duty to maintain their property in a lawful manner, free of nuisances' and to exercise reasonable diligence keeping it that way. A nuisance is any act or condition that 'unreasonably interferes with, annoys, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, or safety of others.' The obligation runs with the land, binding all current and future owners. Code enforcement seeks voluntary compliance first, then civil infractions.
A violation of Chapter 6.13 is a class 1 civil infraction with a $250 monetary penalty (per day), plus abatement costs and a lien of equal rank with taxes.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Home composting is allowed in Spokane County and is not separately permitted. Compost must be managed so it does not become a nuisance, attract vermin, or cr...
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Spokane County has no ordinance banning or specifically regulating artificial turf on residential property. Synthetic lawns are allowed. In regulated develop...
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Spokane County's Zoning Code actively favors native vegetation. Chapter 14.806 states that whenever possible native vegetation should be used and existing ve...
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Collecting rooftop rainwater is legal in Spokane County without a water-right permit. Under Washington Department of Ecology's 2009 policy, on-site storage a...
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Spokane County itself publishes no countywide lawn-watering schedule. Outdoor watering rules are set by each water purveyor: the City of Spokane and local wa...
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State law (RCW 17.10) requires every Spokane County property owner to eradicate Class A noxious weeds and control designated Class B and C weeds on their lan...
See how Spokane County's property blight rules stack up against other locations.
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