Valencia County, NM Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 92.26 of the Valencia County Code, Premises Nuisance, lists the conditions that make a property a public nuisance in unincorporated Valencia County. Subsection (H) specifically covers vacant land: any unimproved real property that has become a dumping ground for litter, garbage, junk, debris, or discarded vehicles, inoperative vehicles, vehicle parts and/or vehicle hulks is a nuisance, alongside junk yards run without a permit under subsection (A) and violations of the county's animal control, zoning, dangerous-building, or manufactured-housing rules elsewhere in the same section. The code defines JUNK (DEBRIS) in section 92.04 broadly enough to include cast-off, damaged, discarded, salvaged or wrecked material of little market value, including organic matter such as weeds, so an overgrown lot littered with debris falls under the same dumping-ground standard.

Enforcement follows the chapter's standard process: the Code Enforcement Department or the Sheriff's Department can inspect under section 92.42, and under section 92.44 the responsible person gets 10 days to begin cleanup and 30 days to finish once a written warning issues, unless immediate abatement is ordered instead. If the owner still will not comply after a court order, section 92.45 authorizes the county to clear the lot itself and bill the owner or renter, and section 92.46 treats every day the dumping ground remains past the deadline as a fresh violation.