(a) If the Director of Inspections is satisfied, upon examination, that a building, tenement, room or cellar in the City which is occupied as a dwelling place, or any other place where human beings reside, congregate, work or have access to, has become, by reason of its being inhabited or used, unclean or unfit for use as herein stated, or is likely to become a nuisance as herein declared or to be the cause of sickness to tenants, occupants or persons who have access to the place, the Director shall give notice, in writing, to the occupant or owner of the premises, or post such notice in a conspicuous location upon the entrance of such premises, condemning the place as being unfit for human habitation or use, and shall demand the occupant or owner of the premises to put such place in a sanitary and habitable condition within a reasonable time as therein stated.
If such occupant or owner fails or refuses to comply with the terms of such notice within the time specified, the Director may declare the premises a nuisance and make and file a complaint against such occupant or owner, or both, as herein provided, cause the condition of the premises to be corrected at the owner's expense or do whatever is reasonably necessary to abate the nuisance at the expense of the owner.
(b) The reasonable cost and expense incurred by the Director in repairing such premises and abating such nuisance shall be determined by the Director, and the amount thus determined shall be charged to the owner of the premises involved and shall be due and payable forthwith. A bill covering such amount shall be mailed by the City Treasurer to the owner of such premises at his or her last known post office address, demanding payment of the amount due. If such amount is not paid to the City on or before December 21 of the calendar year in which such amount became due, the amount thereof shall be assessed against such property as a miscellaneous assessment in accordance with Section 157 of the City Charter and shall become and be a lien on such property from the date such assessment is created until full payment therefor is made.
(c) If such premises are vacated, the Director may, in his or her discretion, refuse to permit and condemn the use of any premises for human habitation declared by him or her to be a nuisance, and such premises shall not again be occupied as a human habitation until they are put in a sanitary and habitable condition. The Director is hereby authorized to condemn any premises declared by him or her to be a nuisance which are occupied as a residence by any tenant or lessee and may order such premises vacated until repaired or until the conditions are corrected to make them habitable.