Wicomico County, MD Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Q of the Nuisances chapter reaches every developed and vacant lot within a recorded subdivision, mobile home park or apartment project, plus any unsubdivided parcel within 200 feet of and abutting one, as long as the land is not used for agriculture or forestry. Within that footprint, subsection Q(2) declares it a public nuisance to keep, in the open and not screened from view, one or more refrigerators, freezers, appliances or other equipment that could endanger health or safety, and subsection Q(3) does the same for open-lot, unscreened accumulations of construction materials or other matter, though that provision carves out an exception while a building permit remains in full force and effect.

Enforcement follows § 174-2: the county's designated agent must serve written notice on the owner and occupier describing the nuisance and the required corrective action, and the notice must give no more than seven days to abate. If the property is unoccupied and the owner cannot be located, notice is posted on the property itself. Under § 174-2C, if the owner or occupant fails to correct the condition in time, the county may enter and perform the removal or repair itself. Section 174-3 then makes noncompliance a civil infraction carrying a fine of $100 to $1,000, with a second violation on the same property within 12 months triggering an added administrative fee under Chapter 141, and each day the nuisance persists past the deadline counted as a separate offense.

Any cost the county incurs abating the nuisance becomes a lien against the property, collected the same way as delinquent real estate taxes, and the county may also sue to recover those costs directly.