Knox County, TN Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Chapter 9, inserted into the county code by Sec. 10-92 of the IPMC amendments, opens with Section 901's Declaration of Nuisance, which names trees, vines, grass, underbrush, accumulated debris, trash, litter and garbage, or a vacant dilapidated building, as a nuisance subject to abatement whenever it endangers health, safety or welfare, or encourages rat infestation. Section 902 defines a 'Subdivided Vacant Lot' as any lot cleared and graded for future construction within a subdivision, and Section 903 sets the maintenance duty for that lot type: it must be mowed and maintained in its entirety if adjacent to homes, while any other vacant lot need only keep a ten-foot perimeter maintained at all times.

Section 904's Prohibited Acts go further than mere mowing: no owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of property may let uncultivated trees, vines, grass or weeds grow in rank profusion along the sidewalk or street strip between the property line and curb, or within ten feet beyond the property line, to a height greater than twelve inches on average. Section 905 requires the code official to give the owner ten days' notice demanding abatement, and that notice must cite Tennessee Code Annotated 5-1-115, identify the code official, estimate the abatement cost, and offer the owner a chance to request a hearing.