DuPage County, IL Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 30-19 gives the county authority, through the director of the solid waste department, to remove garbage or refuse from unincorporated property when the owner "refuses or neglects to remove the garbage or refuse from the property," though the county must first seek voluntary cleanup. Before acting, the county must mail written notice of intent to each owner's last known address at least 15 days before the scheduled removal date. The county can perform the removal itself or contract it out to a private company, and the reasonable cost becomes a lien recorded with the DuPage County Recorder within 60 days of the cost being incurred; that lien statement must describe the real estate, state the dollar amount, and give the dates the costs were incurred.

Under Section 30-19(F), this lien outranks every other lien or encumbrance except tax liens once properly filed, though it cannot defeat a buyer whose rights arose before the lien was recorded or a mortgagee/judgment creditor whose rights predate the filing. Money collected flows to the county's Economic Development and Planning Department. Separately, the county's adopted International Property Maintenance Code (Sec. 4, "Weeds," in its entirety, meaning DuPage County does not enforce a weed-height standard on vacant or unimproved lots through the property maintenance code; garbage and debris accumulation, not vegetation height, is what Section 30-19 targets.