Property with active code enforcement violations in Baltimore

[Sebastian E.]

Good morning Baltimore...

I am looking at two properties that are owned by the same owner in Baltimore City. She inherited both of them this year with lots of deferred maintenance and and some open code violations on one and several citations on the other. 

When a property is conveyed to a new owner do those violations then convey to the new owner with some sort of timeline to abate? Has anyone dealt with this? I am guessing this happens quite often in Baltimore since so many properties are distressed but i'd appreciate any practical guidance on how to deal with it. 

The citations on the one are for peeling paint, high grass etc..which I can mitigate pretty easily. The one that I had a concern about was failure to obtain Multifamily dwelling license in case that could affect the use. 

Thanks!

[Pat L.]

Yes in our case the ones outstanding on our property were transferred & belatedly enforced. We discovered there were 14 outstanding permits on file going back 20 years. Non of which were disclosed by the town when we checked upon taking possession. A year after we owned it one of the building inspectors decided to enforce the 2017 IRC for all multi's in the area & dug out the archives. It took us 24 months to resolve it all but we worked VERY closely (aka major suck-up) with the Building Inspectors to resolve it all. Some were minor, others were deemed serious enough that if enforced they would have closed our multi down.