CHAPTER 8-C. ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION OF
PUBLIC HEALTH, HOUSING, FIRE CODE, ENVIRONMENTAL,
AND HISTORIC DISTRICT VIOLATIONS
§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).
(3) The procedures for administrative adjudication provided in this Chapter also
may be used for the enforcement of ordinances concerning building codes, zoning,
vegetation, nuisances, and licensing. Permits and such other ordinances may be
determined by the governing authority of the parish or municipality.
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.
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, eff. August 15, 2007; Acts 2007,
No. 193, §1, eff. August 15, 2007; Acts 2010, No. 449, §4, eff. August 15, 2010; Acts
2011, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 38, §1, eff. June 12, 2011; Acts 2013, No. 223, §1, eff. June 12,
2013; Acts 2022, No. 355, §1, eff. August 1, 2022; Acts 2025, No. 456, §1, eff. August 1,
2025; Acts 2026, No. 382, §1, eff. August 1, 2026.