Who has to clean up an unsightly property in BC?

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The owner or occupier, under the local unsightly premises bylaw; if they don't, the local government can do the work at their expense and add a cost left unpaid at year's end to the taxes. A council may bar owners and occupiers from letting land become or stay unsightly and make them clear it; a regional district may only where it runs an unsightly premises service, so some rural areas have no such bylaw. When an order isn't met, the local government can do the work at the owner's or occupier's expense, and a cost left unpaid on December 31 becomes taxes in arrear on the property. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. In a town: A council may regulate, prohibit and set requirements by bylaw for nuisances, noxious or offensive refuse and garbage, the accumulation of water, trees, weeds and other growths it considers should be cut, and graffiti and unsightly conditions on property (Community Charter ss. 8 (3) (h), 64 (a), (d), (f), (i), (k)). In a regional district: A regional district board may bar owners and occupiers from letting their land become or stay unsightly, make them remove unsightly accumulations of filth, discarded materials and rubbish, and make them clear brush, trees and noxious weeds, only where it provides a service for unsightly premises or nuisances (Local Government Act ss. 323, 325 (b) to (e)). Where it provides none, an electoral area has no unsightly premises bylaw (our reading): ask the regional district. What counts as unsightly: Each bylaw says. Burnaby's Bylaw No. 14711 counts, whatever the rest of the street looks like, accumulated building materials, derelict vehicles, discarded materials, rubbish and graffiti, dead or overgrown landscaping, and a building or fence showing rot, holes or other decay; it bars storing those outside a fully enclosed building, keeping any derelict vehicle, grass over 15 cm and stagnant water in a pond, pool or hot tub (ss. 2.1, 3.1, 3.2). A derelict vehicle there is one that can't run under its own power or is missing parts, and isn't insured or licensed where it would need to be (s. 2.1). In a rural area: The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako's Bylaw No. 1649 (Electoral Areas A, B, C, D, F and G) bars keeping an automobile wreck, or more than two derelict motor vehicles, outside an enclosed building, and any accumulation of filth, discarded materials and rubbish, which it says includes unused or dismantled boats, trailers, machinery and appliances (ss. 2.1, 4.1 to 4.3). It doesn't apply on land zoned light or heavy industrial or agricultural industry where the storage goes with the zone's permitted use (s. 4.4). When the owner doesn't act: A local government's power to require something includes doing it itself at the defaulter's expense and recovering the cost as a debt, and a cost for work on land still unpaid on December 31 is deemed taxes in arrear on the property (Community Charter ss. 17, 258; for a regional district, Local Government Act ss. 399, 418). In Burnaby a compliance order sets the time, may be appealed to council in writing at least 7 days before it runs out, and if it isn't met the City may do the work at the owner's or occupier's expense (ss. 4.1 to 4.6, 5.1, 5.2); the Bulkley-Nechako may do so once the owner or occupier has had a chance to be heard by the board (s. 6.1). Fines: Each day it goes on is a separate offence under both bylaws: up to $50,000 in Burnaby, which also uses bylaw notices (Bylaw No. 14711 ss. 6.1 to 6.3), and up to $2,000 in the Bulkley-Nechako (Bylaw No. 1649 ss. 7.1, 7.2). A declared nuisance: A council may declare a building or structure, an opening in the ground, a ditch or pond, or a thing so dilapidated or unclean as to be offensive to the community, a nuisance, and order the owner or occupier to remove, demolish, fill in or repair it, giving at least 30 days and 14 days to ask council to reconsider; if the work isn't done, it may do it at their expense and sell the structure or its materials (Community Charter ss. 72, 74, 76 to 78, 80). A regional district can do this only for unsafe or non-complying structures and openings (Local Government Act s. 305). Buying a lot that needs it: An order binds whoever owns or occupies the land, so once the sale completes it's the buyer's (our reading). A clean-up cost already added to the taxes goes with the property, and taxes owing are adjusted at completion (our reading; see closing costs). Old vehicles, fuel drums and tanks are a disposal question (see garbage and recycling and old oil tanks), and what they leaked a contamination one (see contaminated sites). What it means for a buyer: Unsightly premises bylaws and orders aren't open data, so a report doesn't say whether one covers the lot or whether an order is open. Ask the local government, and look at the neighbours' lots on a visit: a report shows who owns the land along the lot line.

Who has to clean up an unsightly property in BC?

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Before you buy: who to ask