When a structure or equipment is found by the
Construction Code Official to be unsafe or when a structure is found
unfit for human occupancy or is found unfit for human occupancy, or
is found unlawful, such structure shall be condemned pursuant to the
provisions of this code.
Whenever the Code Official has condemned a structure
or equipment under the provisions of this chapter, notice shall be
posted in a conspicuous place in or about the structure affected by
such notice and served on the owner or the person or persons responsible
for the structure or equipment in accordance with this chapter. The
notice shall be in the form prescribed herein.
Upon failure of the owner or person responsible
to comply with the notice provisions within the time given, the Code
Official shall post on the premises or on the defective equipment
a placard bearing the word "Condemned" and a statement of the penalties
provided for occupying the premises, operating the equipment or removing
the placard.
Any person who shall occupy a placarded premises
or shall operate placarded equipment and any owner or any person responsible
for the premises who shall let anyone occupy a placarded premises
or operate placarded equipment shall be liable for the penalties provided
by this code.
The Code Official shall remove the condemnation
placard whenever the defect or defects upon which the condemnation
and placarding action were based have been eliminated. Any person
who defaces or removes a condemnation placard without the approval
of the Code Official shall be subject to the penalties provided by
this code.
When, in the opinion of the Code Official, there
is imminent danger of failure or collapse of a building or structure
which endangers life or when any structure or part of a structure
has fallen and life is endangered by the occupation of the structure
or when any structure because of explosives, explosive fumes or vapors
or the presence of toxic fumes, gases or materials, or operation of
defective or dangerous equipment, the code official is hereby authorized
and empowered to order and require the occupants to vacate the premises
forthwith. The Code Official shall cause to be posted at each entrance
to such structure a notice reading as follows: "This Structure is
Unsafe and its Occupancy has been Prohibited by the Code Official."
It shall be unlawful for any person to enter such structure except
for the purpose of securing the structure, making the required repairs,
removing the hazardous condition or of demolishing the same.
If the structure is vacant and unfit for human
habitation and occupancy and is not in danger of structural collapse,
the Code Official is authorized to post a placard of condemnation
on the premises and order the structure closed up so as not to be
an attractive nuisance. Upon failure of the owner to close up the
premises within the time specified in the order, the Code Official
shall cause the premises to be closed through any available public
agency or by contract or arrangement by private persons, and the cost
thereof shall be charged against the real estate upon which the structure
is located and shall be a lien upon such estate.
Notwithstanding other provisions of this code,
whenever, in the opinion of the Code Official, there is imminent danger
due to an unsafe condition, the Code Official shall order the necessary
work to be done, including the boarding up of openings, to render
such structure temporarily safe, whether or not the legal procedure
herein described has been instituted, and shall cause such other action
to be taken as the Code Official deems necessary to meet such emergency.
When necessary for the public safety, the Code
Official shall temporarily close structures and close, or order the
authority having jurisdiction to close, sidewalks, streets, public
ways and places adjacent to unsafe structures and prohibit the same
from being utilized.
For the purposes of this section, the Code Official
shall employ the necessary labor and materials to perform the required
work as expeditiously as possible.
Costs incurred in the performance of emergency
work shall be paid from the treasury of the jurisdiction on approval
of the Code Official. The legal counsel of the jurisdiction shall
institute appropriate action against the owner of the premises where
the unsafe structure is or was located for the recovery of such costs.
Any person ordered to take emergency measures
shall comply with such order forthwith. Any affected person shall
thereafter, upon petition directed to the appeals board, be afforded
a hearing as described in this code.