North Hempstead, NY Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

This maintenance standard sits in Article III of Chapter 28, the Town's Housing, Rehabilitation and Property Maintenance Code, which applies to vacant and occupied lots alike outside the incorporated villages. Section 28-22A(4) specifically targets vacant land alongside yards and courts, requiring it be kept free of physical hazards, rodent harborage, and infestation, and maintained to prevent dust or particles blowing about the neighborhood, with any open well, cesspool, or cistern securely closed or barricaded from public access. The same subsection of the code separately bans accumulations of filth, ashes, junk, garbage, wastepaper, log piles, old cars and parts, and discarded appliances on any premises under § 28-22A(9), and bans junked or unlicensed vehicles from being left in the open under § 28-22A(6).

Enforcement runs through the Enforcement Officer, who under § 28-35 issues a written notice of violation giving the property owner 5 to 45 days to clean up the lot; a follow-up inspection can extend that period if there is evidence of an intent to comply. If the owner fails to act, § 28-37 lets the Town serve a written directive with a further five-day deadline, then send its own crew or the Superintendent of Highways to clear the lot and bill the owner, with unpaid costs becoming a lien collected the same way as other Town charges.