West Bloomfield Mandates Vacant Home Registration

Vacant Home Ordinance - Recently the Township of West Bloomfield, as well as other Oakland County municipalities, has enacted an ordinance which requires that "vacant" homes MUST be registered with the municipality. There are fees involved when registering such a property, as well as fees involved when such a property is not registered. If the fees become delinquent, they could become a lien on the property similar to assessments for weed cutting, garbage, etc. For example, the West Bloomfield ordinance contains many requirements which you should be aware of. For instance, the property management company must be located within 30 miles of the subject property. It also provides for inspections and issuance of "new" certificate(s) of occupancy.

Here are a few of the rules in the new ordinance -

The provisions of this article shall apply to all residential, commercial and industrial structures and all vacant land.

Evidence of vacancy means any condition that on its own or combined with other conditions present would lead a reasonable person to believe the property is vacant. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, overgrown and/or dead vegetation, accumulation of newspapers, circulars, flyers and/or mail, past due utility notices and/or disconnected utilities, accumulation of trash, junk, and/or debris, broken or boarded up windows, abandoned vehicles, auto parts or materials, the absence of window coverings, such as curtains, blinds and/or shutters, the absence of furnishings and/or personal items concistent with habitation or occumpation, statements by neighbors, passersby, delivery agents or government employees that the property is vacant.

Abandoned vacant property means a vacant property as defined in this section that has been vacant for thirty (30) days or more & meets any of the following criteria:

1. Provides a location for loitering, vagrancy, unauthorized entry or other criminal activity;

2. Has one or more broken or boarded windows;

3. Has taxes in arrears for a period of time exceeding 365 days:

4. Has utilities disconnected or not in use:

5. Is not maintained in compliance with the Code, including without limitation, other building and building regulations in theis chapert 8, the anit-blight regulaitons in article II of chapter 10, the fire prevention code in article III of chapter 121 and the solid waste regualtions in chapter 13;

6. Is only partially completed and is not fit for human occupancy.

For the complete Ordinance, follow this link: http://www.twp.west-bloomfield.mi.us/legal/documents/c-735.pdf