H 3969 General Bill, By Townsend
 A BILL TO AMEND CHAPTER 7, TITLE 5, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976,
 RELATING TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF MUNICIPALITIES BY ADDING SECTION 5-7-45
 SO AS TO PROVIDE AN ABSENTEE PROPERTY OWNER SHALL REMOVE A DANGEROUS STRUCTURE
 FROM HIS PROPERTY IN TIMELY FASHION, TO PROVIDE NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS BY
 THE MUNICIPALITY, TO PROVIDE AUTHORITY TO THE MUNICIPALITY TO REMOVE THE
 STRUCTURE AND RECOVER COSTS FROM THE PROPERTY OWNER, TO PROVIDE NOTIFICATION
 TO PROSPECTIVE PURCHASERS, AND TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS OF CERTAIN TERMS.

   04/21/99  House  Introduced and read first time
   04/21/99  House  Referred to Committee on Judiciary

TO AMEND CHAPTER 7, TITLE 5, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF MUNICIPALITIES BY ADDING SECTION 5-7-45 SO AS TO PROVIDE AN ABSENTEE PROPERTY OWNER SHALL REMOVE A DANGEROUS STRUCTURE FROM HIS PROPERTY IN TIMELY FASHION, TO PROVIDE NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS BY THE MUNICIPALITY, TO PROVIDE AUTHORITY TO THE MUNICIPALITY TO REMOVE THE STRUCTURE AND RECOVER COSTS FROM THE PROPERTY OWNER, TO PROVIDE NOTIFICATION TO PROSPECTIVE PURCHASERS, AND TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS OF CERTAIN TERMS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 5-7-45. (1) As used in this section:

(a) 'absentee property owner' means a person who owns property within municipal boundaries and who does not reside on the property;

(b) 'dangerous structure' means a shed, house, building, garage, or similar construction which is in disrepair, at least one-half destroyed, and which poses a hazard to the public health and safety of the municipality;

(c) 'notification' means a written notice sent by certified mail by the municipality to the absentee property owner; and

(d) 'timely fashion' means within three years of receipt of the notification.

(2)(a) An absentee landowner, upon notification and in timely fashion, shall remove a dangerous structure from his property located within the boundaries of a municipality.

(b) An absentee landowner who receives notification and then attempts to sell this property has the duty to provide a copy of the notification to all prospective purchasers of the property.

(3) The municipality has the duty, upon its discovery of the hazard to the public health and safety, to:

(a) notify the absentee property owner of the dangerous structure;

(b) require the absentee property owner to make the property safe and free of the dangerous structure within three years of notification; and

(c) if the absentee property owner fails to remove the dangerous structure in timely fashion, either file suit to compel the absentee property owner to remove the structure or remove the structure itself and file suit to recover all the costs associated with the lawsuit and the removal of the dangerous structure.

(4) The notification must contain the statement that any purchaser of the property who has notice of the dangerous structure must make the property safe and free of the dangerous structure within five hundred days of the purchase of the property.

(5) The purchaser of property shall make the property safe and free of the dangerous structure within five hundred days of the purchase of the property or the purchaser is subject to the actions of the municipality described in subsection (3)(c)."

SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 1999.