Can South Carolina neighbors petition to get an unfit house repaired, closed or torn down?
Yes, where the city's unfit-dwelling ordinance allows it: such an ordinance can let as few as five residents petition the city's public officer, charging that a dwelling is unfit to live in. When dwellings in a South Carolina city or town are unsafe, unsanitary or dangerous to residents, the municipality can use its police powers to repair, close or demolish them.
That complaint comes with notice of a hearing before the officer, set 10 to 30 days after it is served. Conditions that endanger the people in neighboring dwellings can be enough for the officer to find a dwelling unfit.
One kind of order gives the owner a deadline to fix the dwelling so it's fit to live in, or to vacate and close it. If repairs can't be made at a reasonable cost compared with the dwelling's value, the order requires the owner to remove or demolish it.
When the owner ignores a repair or close-up order, the officer can have the work done or the dwelling vacated and closed. A closed dwelling can get a placard on its main entrance declaring it unfit and its use for living in unlawful. When the owner ignores a demolition order, the officer can have the dwelling removed or demolished.
What the officer spends becomes a lien on the property, collected the same way as city taxes.
Counties have the same power, but only with approval from a majority of the county's resident legislative delegation. None of this limits a city's separate power to declare nuisances and have them removed.
What happens when property taxes go unpaid on a South Carolina house?
The county advertises it and sells it at a delinquent tax sale, and the owner then has twelve months to redeem it.
The county's delinquent tax collector mails a delinquent notice on or soon after April 1 to the owner and any grantee of record. If the taxes stay unpaid 30 days after that notice, the collector takes exclusive possession of the property, as far as needed to cover what's owed. If the certified-mail notice comes back, the collector posts a notice on the property instead.
Redeeming costs 3% of the bid in the first three months, rising to 6%, 9% and then 12% in the last three months. Between 45 and 20 days before redemption runs out, the collector must mail the owner a warning notice.
The collector then issues a tax title to the buyer within thirty days or as soon after as possible. Twelve more months after redemption ends, the tax deed can't be challenged on procedural or other grounds.
Money the sale brings in beyond what's owed goes first to any municipal tax liens, then belongs to the owner of record just before redemption ended. Overage nobody claims or assigns within five years of the sale goes to the local government's general fund.
Own a South Carolina house nobody's living in and slipping behind on the loan as well? Here's a plain walk-through of foreclosure in South Carolina.
Does South Carolina's abandoned building tax credit cover vacant houses?
Not a building whose last use was as a single-family home; the Abandoned Buildings Revitalization Act leaves those out. An abandoned building, for this credit, is one where at least 66% of the space has sat unoccupied or nonoperational for at least five years before the owner files a Notice of Intent to Rehabilitate.
Someone who rehabilitates a qualifying abandoned building can choose a state credit, such as one against income taxes, or a credit against local property taxes. The state credit equals 25% of actual rehab costs, if those costs land between 80% and 125% of the estimate in the notice of intent. For the state credit, the Notice of Intent to Rehabilitate has to be filed with the Department of Revenue before a building permit is pulled.
The program is set to be repealed on December 31, 2035.
Who handles vacant, run-down houses in Charleston, South Carolina, and how do you reach them?
In Charleston, the Livability department's Substandard Housing Team works to keep vacant houses at minimum maintenance standards and boarded, watertight and secure. To reach the city about a problem property, call the Citizen Services Desk at 843.724.7311.
The team also checks that vacant properties are free of litter, overgrowth and graffiti and posted with No Trespassing signs. The city's Quick Response Squad is the crew responsible for boarding vacant buildings.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.