(A) Collection of costs of abating dangerous property conditions.
(1) As used in this division, TOTAL COST means any costs incurred due to the use of employees, materials, or equipment of the municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section, any costs arising out of contracts for labor, materials, or equipment, and costs of service of notice or publication required under this division.
(2) The municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section may collect the total cost of removing, repairing, or securing insecure, unsafe, structurally defective, abandoned, deserted, or open and vacant buildings or other structures, of making emergency corrections of hazardous conditions, or of abating any nuisance by any of the following methods:
(a) The Clerk of the Legislative Authority of the municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section may certify the total costs, together with a proper description of lands to the County Auditor who shall place the costs upon the tax list and duplicate. The costs are a lien upon such lands from and after the date the costs were incurred. The costs shall be collected as other taxes and returned to the municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section, as directed by the Clerk of the Legislative Authority in the certification of the total costs or in an affidavit from the agent delivered to the County Auditor or County Treasurer. The placement of the costs on the tax list and duplicate relates back to, and is effective in priority, as of the date the costs were incurred, provided that the municipal corporation or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section certifies the total costs within one year from the date the costs were incurred.
(b) The municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section may commence a civil action to recover the total costs from the owner.
(3) This division (A) applies to any action taken by the municipality, or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section, pursuant to R.C. § 715.26, which authorizes the inspection, removal and repair of buildings, or pursuant to the Ohio Constitution, Article XVIII, Section 3.
(4) The municipality or its agent pursuant to division (A)(5) of this section shall not certify to the County Auditor for placement upon the tax list and duplicate the cost of any action that it takes under division (A)(2) of this section if the action is taken on land that has been forfeited to the state for delinquent taxes, unless the owner of record redeems the land.
(5) The municipality may enter into an agreement with a County Land Reutilization Corporation organized under R.C. Chapter 1724 wherein the County Land Reutilization Corporation agrees to act as the agent of the municipality in connection with removing, repairing, or securing insecure, unsafe, structurally defective, abandoned, deserted, or open and vacant buildings or other structures, making emergency corrections of hazardous conditions, or abating any nuisance, including high weeds, overgrown brush, and trash and debris from vacant lots. The total costs of such actions may be collected by the corporation pursuant to division (A)(2) of this section, and shall be paid to the corporation if it paid or incurred such costs and has not been reimbursed.
(6) In the case of the lien of a County Land Reutilization Corporation that is the agent of the municipality, a notation shall be placed on the tax list and duplicate showing the amount of the lien ascribed specifically to the agent’s total costs. The agent has standing to pursue a separate cause of action for money damages to satisfy the lien or pursue a foreclosure action in a court of competent jurisdiction or with the Board of Revision to enforce the lien without regard to occupancy. For purposes of a foreclosure proceeding by the County Treasurer for delinquent taxes, this division does not affect the lien priority as between a County Land Reutilization Corporation and the County Treasurer, but the corporation’s lien is superior to the lien of any other lienholder of the property. As to a direct action by a County Land Reutilization Corporation, the lien for the taxes, assessment, charges, costs, penalties, and interest on the tax list and duplicate is in all cases superior to the lien of a County Land Reutilization Corporation, whose lien for total costs shall be next in priority as against all other interests, except as provided in division (A)(7) of this section.
(7) A County Land Reutilization Corporation acting as an agent of the municipality under an agreement under this division (A) may, with the County Treasurer’s consent, petition the court or Board of Revision with jurisdiction over an action undertaken under division (A)(6) of this section pleading that the lien of the corporation, as agent, for the total costs shall be superior to the lien for the taxes, assessments, charges, costs, penalties, and interest. If the court or Board of Revision determines that the lien is for total costs paid or incurred by the corporation as such an agent, and that subordinating the lien for such taxes and other impositions to the lien of the corporation promotes the expeditious abatement of public nuisances, the court or board may order the lien for the taxes and other impositions to be subordinate to the corporation’s lien. The court or board may not subordinate the lien for taxes and other such impositions to any other liens.
(R.C. § 715.261)
(B) Injunction may be granted for failure to comply. No person shall erect, alter, repair or maintain any residential building, office, mercantile building, workshop or factory, including a public or private garage, or other structure, within the municipality unless all ordinances or resolutions enacted pursuant to R.C. §§ 715.26 through 715.30 are fully complied with. In the event any building or structure is being erected, constructed, altered, repaired or maintained in violation of such ordinances or resolutions, or there is imminent threat of violation, the municipality or the owner of any contiguous or neighboring property who would be especially damaged by such violation, in addition to any other remedies provided by law, may institute a suit for injunction to prevent or terminate such violation.
(R.C. § 715.30)
(C) Appropriation of property to rehabilitate; demolition or sale.
(1) In order to rehabilitate a building or structure that the municipality has determined to be a blighted property as defined in R.C. § 1.08, the municipality may appropriate, in the manner provided by R.C. §§163.01 through 163.22, any such building or structure and the real property of which it is a part. The municipality shall rehabilitate the building or structure or cause it to be rehabilitated within two years after the appropriation so that the building or structure is no longer a public nuisance, insecure, unsafe, structurally defective, unhealthful or unsanitary, or a threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, in violation of a building code or ordinance adopted under R.C. §731.231. Any building or structure appropriated pursuant to this division which is not rehabilitated within two years shall be demolished.
(2) If, during the rehabilitation process, the municipality retains title to the building or structure and the real property of which it is a part, then within 180 days after the rehabilitation is complete, the municipality shall appraise the rehabilitated building or structure and the real property of which it is a part, and shall sell the building or structure and property at public auction. The municipality shall advertise the public auction in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality once a week for three consecutive weeks, or as provided in R.C. § 7.16, prior to the date of sale. The municipality shall sell the building or structure and real property to the highest and best bidder. No property that the municipality acquires pursuant to this division shall be leased.
(R.C. § 719.012)
Statutory reference:
Adoption of technical ordinances and codes by reference, see R.C. § 731.231