Legal Documents of Mosheim

Code of Mosheim

Table of Contents » Title 13 Property Maintenance Regulations » Chapter 1 Miscellaneous » § 13-104 Overgrown and dirty lots.
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Title 13
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Title 13, Chapter 1
13-101
§ 13-101
Mosheim
Title 13 : Property Maintenance Regulations
Chapter 1 : Miscellaneous

13-104 : Overgrown and dirty lots.

  1. Prohibition. Pursuant to the authority granted to municipalities under Tennessee Code Annotated, § 6-54-113, it shall be unlawful for any owner of record of real property to create, maintain, or permit to be maintain on such property the growth of trees, vines, grass, underbrush, and/or the accumulations of debris, trash, litter, or garbage or any combination of the preceding elements so as to endanger the health, safety, or welfare of other citizens or to encourage the infestation of rats and other harmful animals.
  2. Designation of public officer or department. The board of mayor and aldermen shall designate an appropriate department or person to enforce the provisions of this section.
  3. Notice to property owner. It shall be the duty of the department or person designated by the board of mayor and aldermen to enforce this section to serve notice upon the owner of record in violation of subsection (1) above, a notice in plain English language to remedy the condition within ten (10) days or twenty (20) days if the owner of record is a carrier engaged in the transportation of property or is a utility transmitting communications, electricity, gas, liquids, steam, sewage, or other materials, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The notice shall be sent by registered or certified United States mail, addressed to the last known address of the owner of record. The notice shall state the owner of the property is entitled to a hearing, and shall, at the minimum, contain the following additional information:
    1. A brief statement that the owner is in violation of ordinance #262 of Town of Mosheim, Tennessee, which has been enacted under the authority Tennessee Code Annotated, § 6-54-113, and that the property of such owner be cleaned up at the expense of the owner and a lien placed against the property to secure the cost of the clean-up;
    2. The person, office, address, and telephone number of the department or person giving the notice;
    3. A cost estimate for remedying the noted condition, which shall be in conformity with the standards of cost in the town; and
    4. A place wherein the notified party may return a copy of the notice, indicating the desire for a hearing.
  4. Clean-up at property owner's expense. If the property owner of record fails or refuses to remedy the condition with the ten (10) days after receiving the notice (twenty (20) days if the owner is a carrier engaged in the transportation of property or is a utility transmitting communications, electricity, gas, liquids, steam, sewage, or other materials), the building inspector shall immediately cause the condition to be remedied or removed at a cost in conformity with reasonable standards, and the cost thereof shall be assessed against the owner of the property. Upon the filing of the notice with the office of the Register of Deeds in Greene County, the costs shall be a lien on the property in favor, of the municipality, second only to liens of the state, county, and municipality for taxes, any lien of the municipality for special assessments, and any valid lien, right, or interest in such property duly recorded or duly perfected by filing, prior to the filing of such notice. These costs shall be placed on the tax rolls of Greene County, Tennessee as a lien and shall be added to property tax bills to be collected at the same time and in the same manner as property taxes are collected. If the owner fails to pay the costs, they may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as delinquent property taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalty and interest as delinquent property taxes.
  5. Appeal. The owner of record who is aggrieved by the determination and order of the public officer may appeal the determination and order to the board of mayor and aldermen. The appeal shall be filed with the town recorder within ten (10) days following the receipt of the notice issued pursuant to subsection (3) above. The failure to appeal within this time shall, without exception, constitute a waiver of the right to a hearing.
  6. Judicial review. Any person aggrieved by an order or act of the board of mayor and aldermen under subsection (4) above may seek judicial review of the order or act. The time period established in subsection (3) above shall be stayed during the pendency of judicial review.
  7. Supplemental nature of this section. The provisions of this section are in addition and supplemental to, and not in substitution for, any other provision in the municipal charter, this municipal code of ordinances, or other applicable law which permits the town to proceed against an owner, tenant, or occupant of property who has created, maintained, or permitted to be maintained on such property the growth of trees, vines, grass, weeds, underbrush, and/or the accumulation of the debris, trash, litter, or garbage or any combination of the preceding elements, under its charter, any other provisions of this municipal code of ordinances or any other applicable law. (Ord. #262, April 2016)