San Antonio, TX Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

004 of the Texas Health and Safety Code is the state authority behind San Antonio's weed and brush ordinances: it lets the city's governing body require any property owner to keep real property free of weeds, brush and any condition constituting a public nuisance as defined by Sec. 011(c)(1), (2) or (3). Under the companion process in Sec. 006, if an owner doesn't comply within seven days of notice, the city can do the abatement work itself and charge the owner; notice can go out personally, by mail to the address on the county appraisal district rolls, or, if that fails, by publication or by posting on the property.

A mailed notice that comes back "refused" or "unclaimed" still counts as delivered. 008 goes further for dangerous growth: the city may abate weeds taller than 48 inches without any notice at all if they pose an immediate danger to health, life or safety, though it must still notify the owner within ten days afterward and give the owner a chance to request an administrative hearing within thirty days. Whatever the city spends on abatement becomes a lien against the property under Sec. 007: the mayor or a designated official files a lien statement with the county clerk, and the lien secures the city's expenditures plus interest accruing at 10 percent from the date the city paid.

That lien ranks behind only tax liens and street-improvement liens, and the city can sue to foreclose it. On top of the lien remedy, Sec. 005 separately lets the city's governing body punish an owner or occupant who violates the local ordinance adopted under this authority.