Valencia County, NM Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)
Key Facts
- Standard
- No dumping ground for litter, junk or vehicles
- Covers
- Unimproved/vacant real property, unincorporated county
- Abatement window
- 10 days to start, 30 days to finish
- Penalty
- Up to $300 fine or 90 days jail
- Enforcer
- Code Enforcement Department or Sheriff's Department
Summary
Valencia County's premises nuisance code makes it illegal to let an unimproved, vacant lot in the unincorporated area become a dumping ground for litter, garbage, junk, debris or discarded and inoperative vehicles. Code Enforcement can order the responsible person to clean it up, and a court can authorize the county to do the work at the owner's expense.
No responsible person shall maintain any premises in such a manner that any one or more of the conditions or activities described in the following subsection are found to exist: ... (H) Any unimproved real property which has become a dumping ground for litter, garbage, junk, debris, or discarded vehicles, inoperative vehicles, vehicle parts and/or vehicle hulks;
Full Breakdown
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. 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.
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. 46 treats every day the dumping ground remains past the deadline as a fresh violation.
Violations & Fines
A vacant lot dumping-ground violation under section 92.26(H) is punishable under section 92.99: a fine of not more than $300, imprisonment of not more than 90 days, or both, for each violation. Because section 92.46 makes continued noncompliance a separate daily offense, an owner who ignores an abatement order can face repeated citations until the lot is cleared.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a vacant lot 'dumping ground' under Valencia County's code?
Is there a separate weed-height limit for vacant lots?
Who enforces the vacant lot rule and how much notice do I get?
Can the county clean up my lot and bill me?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Valencia County
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