When a structure or equipment is found by the Construction Code Official to be unsafe or when a structure is found unfit for human occupancy or is found unfit for human occupancy, or is found unlawful, such structure shall be condemned pursuant to the provisions of this code.
Whenever the Code Official has condemned a structure or equipment under the provisions of this chapter, notice shall be posted in a conspicuous place in or about the structure affected by such notice and served on the owner or the person or persons responsible for the structure or equipment in accordance with this chapter. The notice shall be in the form prescribed herein.
Upon failure of the owner or person responsible to comply with the notice provisions within the time given, the Code Official shall post on the premises or on the defective equipment a placard bearing the word "Condemned" and a statement of the penalties provided for occupying the premises, operating the equipment or removing the placard.
Any person who shall occupy a placarded premises or shall operate placarded equipment and any owner or any person responsible for the premises who shall let anyone occupy a placarded premises or operate placarded equipment shall be liable for the penalties provided by this code.
The Code Official shall remove the condemnation placard whenever the defect or defects upon which the condemnation and placarding action were based have been eliminated. Any person who defaces or removes a condemnation placard without the approval of the Code Official shall be subject to the penalties provided by this code.
When, in the opinion of the Code Official, there is imminent danger of failure or collapse of a building or structure which endangers life or when any structure or part of a structure has fallen and life is endangered by the occupation of the structure or when any structure because of explosives, explosive fumes or vapors or the presence of toxic fumes, gases or materials, or operation of defective or dangerous equipment, the code official is hereby authorized and empowered to order and require the occupants to vacate the premises forthwith. The Code Official shall cause to be posted at each entrance to such structure a notice reading as follows: "This Structure is Unsafe and its Occupancy has been Prohibited by the Code Official." It shall be unlawful for any person to enter such structure except for the purpose of securing the structure, making the required repairs, removing the hazardous condition or of demolishing the same.
If the structure is vacant and unfit for human habitation and occupancy and is not in danger of structural collapse, the Code Official is authorized to post a placard of condemnation on the premises and order the structure closed up so as not to be an attractive nuisance. Upon failure of the owner to close up the premises within the time specified in the order, the Code Official shall cause the premises to be closed through any available public agency or by contract or arrangement by private persons, and the cost thereof shall be charged against the real estate upon which the structure is located and shall be a lien upon such estate.
Notwithstanding other provisions of this code, whenever, in the opinion of the Code Official, there is imminent danger due to an unsafe condition, the Code Official shall order the necessary work to be done, including the boarding up of openings, to render such structure temporarily safe, whether or not the legal procedure herein described has been instituted, and shall cause such other action to be taken as the Code Official deems necessary to meet such emergency.
When necessary for the public safety, the Code Official shall temporarily close structures and close, or order the authority having jurisdiction to close, sidewalks, streets, public ways and places adjacent to unsafe structures and prohibit the same from being utilized.
For the purposes of this section, the Code Official shall employ the necessary labor and materials to perform the required work as expeditiously as possible.
Costs incurred in the performance of emergency work shall be paid from the treasury of the jurisdiction on approval of the Code Official. The legal counsel of the jurisdiction shall institute appropriate action against the owner of the premises where the unsafe structure is or was located for the recovery of such costs.
Any person ordered to take emergency measures shall comply with such order forthwith. Any affected person shall thereafter, upon petition directed to the appeals board, be afforded a hearing as described in this code.