Tazewell County, IL Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

13 of the Tazewell County Code of Ordinances sets out how the county condemns substandard housing in the unincorporated area. Under division (A), any dwelling or dwelling unit is condemned as unfit for human habitation and placarded by the Director of Public Health if it is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, unsanitary, unsafe, or vermin-infested that it creates a serious hazard to occupants or the public and the cost of repair exceeds the property's repaired value, or if it lacks adequate illumination, heating, ventilation, or sanitation facilities to protect health and safety under the same cost test.

Division (B) requires any dwelling condemned and placarded under this section to be vacated within a reasonable time set by the Director of Public Health. Division (C) bars reoccupying a condemned, placarded dwelling until the Director of Public Health gives written approval and removes the placard, which happens once the underlying defects are eliminated. Division (D) makes it a separate violation for anyone to deface or remove the placard from a condemned dwelling except as part of that approved reoccupancy process. 12's administration and enforcement procedures, which require written notice of the specific defects before formal action, and an emergency order provision letting the Director of Public Health act immediately, without notice or hearing, when conditions require it to protect public health.