Kokomo, IN Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 99.02(A) prohibits any owner, occupant, tenant, or other person with a substantial property interest in real or personal property within the city from maintaining, creating, causing, placing, depositing, leaving, or permitting a nuisance on that property or on an adjoining public place. Section 99.03 then lists what counts, and several items apply directly to vacant and unimproved lots rather than occupied structures: accumulations of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk, or other abandoned materials, metals, and lumber (division 2); fallen trees, stumps, dead trees, cut brush, or fallen or cut limbs, apart from stacked firewood (division 3); and open excavations, uncovered or improperly covered holes, and dirt piles on any open or unfenced real property in the city (division 6).

Boxes, appliances, household items, tires, and demolition remains left on a lot are also listed nuisances. The enforcement authority, the city's Division of Building and Code Services, inspects on complaint or its own initiative and issues a written abatement notice under § 99.11 identifying the property, the required cleanup, and a compliance period of at least 48 hours, with a substantial start required within 30 days for longer jobs. The order becomes final ten calendar days after service unless the owner requests a hearing in writing before that deadline. Notice can be served by certified mail, personal delivery, posting at the property, or, if those fail, newspaper publication.