Wicomico County, MD Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Article VII of the Housing Standards code, Sections 160-40 and 160-41, is Wicomico County's dangerous-building abatement tool for unincorporated areas. Section 160-40 declares that any building or portion of a building the Housing Official finds dangerous or a threat to public health or safety is a public nuisance, and it must be abated through repair, rehabilitation, demolition, vacancy or removal, following the notice-and-order procedure set out starting at Section 160-13. Section 160-41 backs that declaration with a detailed list of qualifying conditions: inadequate fire exits, fire or storm damage that has weakened structural strength below current code minimums, parts likely to fall or collapse, walls that have warped, buckled or settled, foundations that are failing or shifting, exterior walls out of plumb by more than a third of their base width, damage or deterioration affecting half or more of a nonsupporting wall, conditions that attract vagrants or children into an unsafe structure, unsanitary conditions unfit for human habitation, fire hazards from deteriorated wiring or heating equipment, inadequate light and air, missing required plumbing, and unsafe boilers, elevators or electrical equipment.

Any one of those conditions, if severe enough to endanger life, health, property or public safety, supports a dangerous-building finding. Once a structure is vacant, Section 160-41B lets the Housing Official order it closed up to prevent it becoming an attractive nuisance, and if the owner does not comply, the County can close it through its own contractors and place the cost as a lien on the property, collectible the same way as real estate taxes.