Dearborn County, IN Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

The Dearborn County Code has no stand-alone weed or mowing chapter for vacant land. The provision that reaches an empty lot is § 154.06(C) in Chapter 154, the Unsafe Building Law of Dearborn County, Indiana, adopted by the Board of Commissioners as Ord. 2014-003 on 2-18-14. It treats a tract of real property that does not contain a building or structure as unsafe premises when the tract is a fire hazard, a hazard to public health, a public nuisance, or dangerous to a person or property because of a violation of a statute or ordinance. Land used for production agriculture is carved out. The chapter prints no grass height or weed-cutting standard, so the trigger is the hazard or nuisance finding itself.

Chapter 154 applies throughout the unincorporated areas of the county under § 154.01, so a vacant lot inside Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Greendale or another incorporated town is outside it. The Dearborn County Building Inspector administers the law under § 154.03, and the Building Department is the department named in § 154.05. Section 154.07 lets the enforcement authority issue an order requiring the remedies described in I.C. 36-7-9-5, and each person with a substantial property interest in the premises must be notified under I.C. 36-7-9-25. Hearing and review follow I.C. 36-7-9-7 and 36-7-9-8, with the Board of Commissioners acting as the hearing authority under § 154.05.

If the owner does not act, the county can have the work done. Under § 154.11 the cost falls on the persons holding fee interests or life estate interests in the premises, objections to a bill go to Dearborn Circuit Court, and unpaid costs can become a judgment against the owner's real or personal property. Section 154.09 allows emergency action without an order or notice, limited to abating an immediate danger, and § 154.14 allows an inspection warrant from Dearborn Circuit Court if the owner refuses entry.