Yonkers, NY Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

City Code § 69-5 places the maintenance burden on "every owner, lessee, contractor or other person having the management or control of any vacant lot or parcel of land" in Yonkers. The lot must be kept clean and inoffensive at all times, with no gathering of water or accumulation of rubbish or refuse. If any part of the lot is sunken, excavated or below the grade of the adjacent sidewalk, the responsible party must erect and maintain a proper fence so pedestrians cannot fall in.

Enforcement runs through the Commissioner of Public Works, who serves written notice describing the required work. The owner, lessee or contractor then has five days from the mailing of that notice to remove the accumulation or build the fence. If nothing is done, the Commissioner's crews can perform the work directly and assess the cost against the property; unpaid charges become a lien collectible like a tax, though the owner can request a hearing on whether the charges were justified. A companion provision, § 69-9, layers on a broader Article III duty covering any lot in the City: owners must also prevent accumulation of garbage, inoperable vehicles and overgrowth of weeds, brush and other baneful plants, with the same five-day notice-and-cure structure under §§ 69-11 and 69-12, followed by City cleanup and a lien under §§ 69-13 and 69-14.

Ignoring a § 69-5 notice within the five-day window is a separate violation under § 69-6, independent of whatever the City later does to fix the lot.