§ 13:2575 — Blighted or abandoned property; public health, housing, fire code, building code, and

Louisiana § 13:2575

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 13: Courts and Judicial Procedure

Text

§2575. Blighted or abandoned property; public health, housing, fire code, building code, and
certain other ordinance violations; administrative adjudication; procedure; appeal;
penalties
A.(1) Any municipality or parish may prescribe civil fines for blighted property,
abandoned property, or violation of public health, housing, fire code, environmental, and
historic district ordinances in the municipality or parish by owners of immovable property,
their agents, tenants, or representatives pursuant to the procedures for administrative
adjudication provided in this Chapter. For the purposes of this Chapter, "housing violations"
shall encompass only those conditions in privately owned structures which are determined
to constitute a threat or danger to the public health, safety or welfare, to the environment, or
a historic district. In municipalities with a population of seventy thousand or more according
to the latest federal decennial census, the term "housing violation" as used in this Chapter
shall also encompass building codes, zoning, vegetation, and nuisance ordinances. However,
nothing in this Section shall be construed to affect activities which occur on the premises of
manufacturing facilities and which are regulated by Title 30 of the Louisiana Revised
Statutes of 1950.
(2) For purposes of this Chapter, "blighted property" shall have the same meaning
as provided in R.S. 33:1374(B), and "abandoned property" shall have the same meaning as
provided in R.S. 33:4720.59(D)(2).
B.(1) Any municipality or parish may adopt an ordinance or ordinances establishing
an administrative adjudication hearing procedure under the provisions of this Chapter. The
ordinance or ordinances shall provide for a time period for persons charged with owning
blighted or abandoned property, or violating a public health, housing, fire code,
environmental, and historic district ordinance to have a hearing under the provisions of this
Chapter. The ordinance shall provide for the appointment of one or more hearing officers
who may be the director of health of the municipality or parish or the health officer of the
parish in which the municipality is located or the designee of such official or, in the
discretion of the governing authority, who may be a person who shall have been licensed to
practice law in Louisiana for two years.
(2) Any municipality or parish that adopts an ordinance establishing an
administrative adjudication hearing procedure for determining property to be blighted or
abandoned shall provide notice to the property owners and to all mortgagees of record as
provided in Paragraphs (D)(2) and (F)(2) of this Section.
(3) Each municipality or parish shall have the authority to empower the hearing
officer with authority to:
(a) Administer oaths and affirmations.
(b) Issue orders compelling the attendance of witnesses and defendants and the
production of documents.
(c) Levy fines, fees, penalties, and hearing costs, the maximum of which shall not
exceed those established for the parish or municipal courts.
(d) Order violators to correct violations within a stipulated time.
(e) Take necessary and lawful measures to effect correction of the violation if the
violator fails to do so within the time allocated by the hearing officer.
(f) Record orders, judgments, notices of judgments, or liens in the mortgage office
of the parish in which the immovable property, or any portion thereof, in or on which the
violation occurred is situated.
(g) Condemn property determined to be blighted or abandoned and authorize the
parish or municipality to demolish the blighted or abandoned property.
C.(1) The municipality or parish shall have a lien and privilege against the
immovable property in or on which the violation occurred. The lien and privilege shall
secure all fines, costs, and penalties which are assessed by the municipality or parish in
accordance with this Section and described in the order, judgment, notice of judgment, or
lien. For the lien and privilege to arise and exist, the order, judgment, notice of judgment,
or lien assessing any fines, costs, and penalties shall be recorded in the mortgage office of
the parish in which the immovable property, or any portion thereof, in or on which the
violation occurred, is situated. The recordation shall have the effect of a judicial mortgage
against the immovable property described therein and may be enforced against the
immovable property described therein upon application of the municipality or parish to the
clerk of the district court for issuance of a writ in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure
Article 2253. The remedies established in this Chapter are nonexclusive and may be pursued
independently of each other and in addition to other remedies provided by law. In order for
the lien and privilege to arise, the order, judgment, notice of judgment, or lien shall be final
and not subject to appeal when recorded in the mortgage office. The lien and privilege shall
have ranking as provided by R.S. 9:4821(A)(1).
(2) Any liens placed against such immovable property shall be included in the next
annual ad valorem tax bill and shall be paid along with such taxes, subject, however, to any
valid homestead exemption. Failure to pay the liens shall cause the immovable property in
or on which the violation occurred to be subject to the same provisions of law as govern tax
sales of immovable property when the immovable property has been declared blighted or a
public nuisance by an administrative hearing officer acting in accordance with this Section,
the property owners and other parties having interests in the property shall not have a right
of redemption. However, if the immovable property has been sold for nonpayment of taxes
to a tax sale purchaser other than the municipality, and if the right of redemption from the
tax sale has not elapsed at least one year prior to the sale pursuant to this Section, the tax sale
purchaser shall have a right of redemption from the sale pursuant to this Section until one
year after the right of redemption from the tax sale elapses. In addition, failure to pay the
liens shall also cause such liens and privileges to be subject to enforcement in accordance
with R.S. 13:2576. Any liens placed against immovable property that has a legal homestead
exemption from taxes will become payable ninety days after the death of the owner thereof
or immediately upon recordation of any conventional mortgage on the immovable property
or transfer of title to a new owner, whichever occurs first.
D.(1) Prior to holding an administrative hearing for public health, housing, fire code,
environmental, and historic district violations, the municipality or parish shall notify the
property owner at least fifteen days in advance of the date that such a hearing is scheduled.
This notification shall state the time, date, and location of the hearing, the alleged violations,
and it shall be sent by certified or registered United States mail to the violator or personally
served on the violator at the address as listed in the assessor's office of the municipality or
parish. The date of the postmark shall be deemed to be the date of delivery. Any notification
so sent and returned by the United States Post Office shall be considered as having fulfilled
the notification requirement. Failure of any person charged with a violation to appear at the
hearing shall be considered an admission of liability for the charged violation. Any order
compelling the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents may be enforced by
the city or municipal court of the municipality or the parish court in whose jurisdiction the
municipality is located, or in the parish court of the parish initiating the action.
(2) Prior to holding an administrative hearing for the determination of blight or
abandonment of property, the municipality or parish shall notify the property owner and each
mortgagee of record in the parish mortgage records, at least thirty days in advance of the date
of the administrative hearing. The notification shall state the time, date, and location of the
hearing, the location of the subject property, and an explanation that the hearing is for the
purpose of making a determination whether the subject property is blighted or abandoned.
The notice shall be sent by certified or registered United States mail or personally served on
the property owner at the address listed in the assessor's office of the municipality or parish,
and on each mortgagee of record at the address provided in the recorded mortgage.
E. Any administrative adjudication hearing held under the provisions of this Chapter
shall be conducted in accordance with the rules of evidence of the Administrative Procedure
Act. Testimony by any person shall be taken under oath. The person charged with the
ordinance violation may present any relevant evidence and testimony at such hearing and
may be represented by an attorney at law. However, his physical presence shall not be
required at the hearing if documentary evidence, duly verified by such person, is submitted
to the hearing officer prior to the date of the hearing.
F.(1) The hearing officer shall issue an order within thirty days, excluding legal
holidays, of the hearing stating whether or not the person charged is liable for the violation,
and the amount of any fine, penalty, costs, or fee assessed against him, and a date by which
the violation shall be corrected. In addition to the enforcement procedure and authority set
forth in Paragraph (B)(2) of this Section, any order assessing a fine, penalty, costs, or fee or
stipulating a correction date may be enforced by the city or municipal court of the
municipality or the parish court in whose jurisdiction the municipality is located, or in the
parish court of the parish initiating the action.
(2) After the hearing to determine whether a property is blighted or abandoned, the
hearing officer shall send written post-hearing notice to the property owner and each
mortgagee of record explaining whether the hearing officer determined the subject property
to be blighted or abandoned and state whether any fine, penalty, costs, or fees are assessed.
The post-hearing notice shall be sent to the property owner and mortgagees of record in the
manner provided for in Paragraph (D)(2) of this Section.
G. The ordinance shall provide for the amount and disposition of fines, penalties,
costs, and fees.
H. Any property owner or mortgagee of record of property determined to be blighted
or abandoned property, or any person determined by the hearing officer to be in violation of
a public health, housing, fire code, environmental, or historic district ordinance may appeal
this determination to the appropriate district court. Such appeal shall be instituted by filing,
within thirty calendar days of the hearing officer's order, a petition with the clerk of court for
the district court along with payment of such reasonable costs as may be required by the
clerk. After filing a petition for appeal, the clerk of court of the district court shall schedule
a hearing and notify all parties of the date, time, and place of such hearing. Service of notice
of appeal under this Subsection shall not stay the enforcement and collection of the judgment
unless the person who files the appeal furnishes security prior to filing notice of appeal with
the agency of the municipality or parish designated by ordinance to accept such payments in
the amount to be fixed by the hearing officer sufficient to assure satisfaction of the finding
of the hearing officer relative to the fine, fee, penalty, costs of the hearing, and costs, if any,
of correcting the violation.

Legislative History

Acts 1987, No. 514, §1, eff. July 9, 1987; Acts 1991, No. 289, §5; Acts 1992, No. 737, §1; Acts 1995, No. 646, §1; Acts 1995, No. 1155, §2, eff. June 29, 1995; Acts 2004, No. 209, §2, eff. June 14, 2004; Acts 2007, No. 115, §1; Acts 2007, No. 193, §1; Acts 2010, No. 449, §1; Acts 2011, 1 st Ex. Sess., No. 38, §1; Acts 2013, No. 223, §1, eff. June 12, 2013; Acts 2022, No. 355, §1; Acts 2025, No. 456, §1.