Fees

• Owners of vacant properties must register and pay an annual fee.
• The fee is due:
  • At the time of registration.
  • Each year on the anniversary date of when we found the building vacant. Find the anniversary date using the City’s Property Information tool.
    See Property information search
• We may adjust the fee annually.
• The fee helps cover some of the City’s costs related to properties that are not maintained.

Commercial vacant building appeal

The owner of a vacant commercial property can file an appeal about a building in the VBR program.

Here's the process:

• The property owner files a formal appeal with Inspections Services.
• Inspections Services sends the appeal to the Nuisance Condition Process Review Panel for a decision.

Contact Inspections Services to file a formal appeal

Restoration agreements

The City wants to encourage owners to fix up buildings that qualify for the VBR program. To do this, we can create a restoration agreement with the owner. This is an option if :

• The property has been in the VBR program for less than three months, or
• It has been less than three months since the property's anniversary date in the program

Agreement documents

• See Restoration agreement policy 
• See Restoration agreements 

Waiving VBR fee

We will waive the fee for six months for property owners are who are:

• Rehabilitating the property
• Meeting other conditions in a restoration agreement

Winterization

Owners must winterize condemned properties with boards. This includes:

• Disconnecting the gas
• Shutting off electric power
• Draining plumbing fixtures and water pipes

The City may also direct Public Works to shut off water service at the stop box and drop the meter.

If the owner does not winterize a condemned property:

• The City can hire a contractor to winterize it.
• We will notify the owner of record before the winterization.
• We will apply the cost of winterization as a special assessment to the property tax.