Okaloosa County, FL Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Okaloosa County adopted the Florida Building Code together with a local Administrative Construction Code at section 6-133 of the county Code of Ordinances, known as the "ACC." Section 104.5 of that code defines an unsafe building or service system as any building, structure, or electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system that is unsafe, unsanitary, does not provide adequate egress, constitutes a fire hazard, is otherwise dangerous to human life, or, in relation to its existing use, is a hazard to safety or health. Once a structure meets that definition, section 104.5 declares it illegal outright and requires the county to abate it by repair and rehabilitation or by demolition in accordance with the International Property Maintenance Code, 2006 edition.

Section 116, titled "Unsafe Structures and Equipment," repeats that same abatement standard for the whole administrative code. The county Growth Management Department's building official makes the unsafe-building determination and issues the order; an owner served with such an order can appeal to the Okaloosa County Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals within 30 calendar days under section 113.4.3, and from there to the circuit court. Where a building official finds work being performed in a manner contrary to the code, dangerous, or unsafe, section 115.1 authorizes an immediate stop-work order, and no advance written notice is required where there is an immediate threat to life, health, or safety.

This unsafe-structures process is separate from the county's litter and junkyard-condition nuisance rules in chapter 11, which address accumulated debris rather than a structurally dangerous building itself.