Tangipahoa Parish, LA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 32-20(a) makes it the responsibility of "any owner and agent of any property outside the municipalities of the parish" to cut and remove grass and weeds over 18 inches, excepting only grass grown as a crop, and subsection (b) requires keeping the property from becoming a breeding ground for rats, mice, mosquitoes or other disease-bearing pests and from accumulating trash, rubbish or debris. The parish inspects on its own or after a bona fide complaint, § 32-20(c), then mails two notices, certified and first-class, § 32-20(d).

Vacant lots get a specific fallback: under subsection (h), if the property is a vacant lot or has no dwelling on it and both mailed notices are declined, unclaimed or returned, the parish must serve notice by hand delivery instead. The notice must state the required action and the compliance deadline, and warn of the penalties in subsections (j) and (k), § 32-20(i). Section 32-22 sets the standard the parish uses to judge compliance: a landowner is presumed to have properly maintained the property if it is mowed or bush-hogged three times a year, once each in spring, summer and fall.