Smyrna, TN Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 13-104, Overgrown and Dirty Lots, applies to any real property in the Town of Smyrna, Tennessee, vacant or built. Acting under T.C.A. § 6-54-113, the section makes it unlawful for an owner of record to create, maintain, or permit growth of trees, vines, grass, and underbrush, or accumulations of debris, trash, litter, or garbage, that endanger the health, safety, or welfare of other citizens or encourage the infestation of rats and other harmful animals. The Town Manager designates the department or person that enforces the section.

The process starts with a notice in plain language to the owner of record, sent by registered or certified United States mail to the last known address. The owner has ten days to remedy the condition, or 20 days if the owner is a carrier engaged in the transportation of property or a utility transmitting communications, electricity, gas, liquids, steam, sewage, or other materials, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The notice must state that the owner is entitled to a hearing, cite Section 13-104 and T.C.A. § 6-54-113, warn that the property can be cleaned up at the owner's expense with a lien to secure the cost, name the person, office, address, and telephone number giving the notice, include a cost estimate, and identify where to return a copy of the notice to request a hearing before the Town Manager or a designee.

If the owner fails to remedy the condition within the notice period, the enforcing department shall immediately cause it to be remedied or removed, and the cost is assessed against the owner. Failure to request a hearing within the notice period is a waiver of the hearing, without exception. When the notice is filed with the register of deeds in Rutherford County, the costs become a lien in favor of the municipality, second only to liens of the state, county, and municipality for taxes, any municipal lien for special assessments, and valid recorded or perfected liens filed before that notice. The costs go on the tax rolls, are added to property tax bills, and collect at the same time and in the same manner as property taxes, with the same penalty and interest if delinquent.

Owner-occupied homes are treated differently under divisions (2) and (6). The lien route is the same except that the town must wait until cumulative remediation charges equal or exceed $500 before filing the notice and creating the lien. Judicial review is open to any aggrieved person, and the notice time periods are stayed while review is pending.