Can You Sell a Condemned House in Oklahoma

There is a notice on the door and the word condemned somewhere in it. Somebody has told you the house is now worthless, somebody else has told you the city is going to knock it down and send you the bill, and a third person has told you that you cannot sell it at all. Two of those are wrong and one of them is closer to true than you would like.

This article covers what the word actually means in Oklahoma, how the Tulsa process runs, what a demolition lien does to your money, and whether you can sell.

Condemned means three different things

The single word covers three unrelated situations and the first job is working out which one you are in. The paperwork tells you.

Condemnation in the eminent domain sense. A public body is taking the property, for a road widening or a utility easement. This has nothing to do with the condition of your house and it normally comes with compensation. If that is what your notice is, it is a completely different article and an attorney is the right call.

A dilapidated building proceeding. The municipality has started the process that can end with the building being torn down. In Oklahoma this runs under 11 O.S. 22-112, and in Tulsa under Title 24, Chapter 4 of the city's Code of Ordinances. This is the one people mean when they say condemned, and it is the one with the lien attached.

An order that nobody may occupy it. A building or property maintenance finding that the structure is unsafe or unfit for occupancy. It stops people living there. It is not by itself an order to demolish, and it is frequently reversible by doing the work.

Find the case number and the department on the notice before you do anything else. Everything that follows depends on which of the three you are actually holding.

How the Tulsa process runs

Under Tulsa's own ordinance and the state statute behind it, a dilapidated building proceeding follows a set sequence.

• At least ten business days notice before the hearing. A copy is posted on the property itself
• Notice is mailed to the owner at the address shown on the current year's tax rolls in the office of the County Treasurer
• Written notice also goes to any mortgage holder shown in the County Clerk's records
• A Hearing Officer decides whether the property is dilapidated and detrimental to health, safety or welfare, or a fire hazard to other property
• On a finding against you, the building may be torn down and removed, with dates fixed for the work
• An owner may appeal to the City Council where there is alleged error in the decision

Notice the address point, because it is how people lose houses without knowing anything is happening. The notice goes to the address on the current year's tax rolls. If you inherited the property, moved out of state, or never updated the mailing address after a refinance, the letters are going somewhere you do not read. Checking what address the county holds for your parcel takes minutes, and our page on Tulsa County property records shows how to look it up.

What the lien actually does

This is the part that costs real money and the part most people find out about too late.

If the city dismantles or removes the building, the cost is not a bill you can ignore. Under the Tulsa ordinance, the clerk files a notice of dilapidation and lien with the County Clerk. From that date the cost is the personal obligation of the property owner. The costs are levied on the property and collected by the County Treasurer in the same way as other taxes, and the lien is coequal with the lien of ad valorem taxes and prior and superior to other titles and liens against the property.

Read that last part again. It outranks other liens, and it follows the property. It does not quietly disappear because the house was sold, and a buyer who ignores it inherits it. Our article on selling a house with a lien covers how recorded claims are settled at closing, and this is one of them.

The practical consequence is that timing changes what you own. Before demolition you have a house and a lot. After demolition you have a lot with a demolition lien on it, and vacant lots in most Tulsa neighbourhoods are worth considerably less than people assume.

Can you sell it

Yes. There is no rule in Oklahoma that stops you selling a property under a condemnation or dilapidation order. What changes is who can buy it and what it is worth.

The buyer pool is cash only. No lender will finance a house that cannot be occupied. That removes essentially every ordinary buyer, which is the real reason these properties sell for less rather than any legal barrier.

The order travels with the property. The deadlines, the required work and any lien pass to the new owner. A serious buyer will want the case number and will check it.

The clock does not pause because it is under contract. If demolition is scheduled, it stays scheduled unless the department agrees otherwise.

Our page on Tulsa code enforcement citations covers the earlier stages of the same system, and our page on selling a vacant house in Tulsa deals with the insurance and security side while it sits.

What you have to tell a buyer

A live order is not something to leave off the paperwork. Oklahoma has a statutory disclosure regime for residential sales and our article on Oklahoma seller disclosure requirements sets out how it works. Beyond the legal position, a condemnation order is exactly the sort of thing that gets discovered later and turns a completed sale into a dispute.

If the house is old enough that the work would disturb paint or insulation, our article on asbestos and lead paint in older Oklahoma houses is worth reading before anybody starts demolition of their own.

What to do this week

1. Read the notice properly and find the case number, the hearing date and the department that issued it
2. Call that department and ask precisely what would satisfy the order. Sometimes it is a roof and a set of secured openings rather than everything you feared
3. Ask whether an extension is available if the work has started or is scheduled. Departments are generally more flexible with an owner who is engaging than with one who has gone quiet
4. Appeal within the window if you believe the finding is wrong. The route to the City Council exists for that reason and it closes
5. Get three written quotes for the work the order requires before deciding anything. Repair costs for this kind of work vary widely across the Tulsa market and a single verbal number is not a basis for a decision
6. Ask about help. Ask the department whether the city runs any repair assistance or abatement programme you might qualify for. If the notice looks procedurally wrong, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma helps people who qualify, free

Where we come in

If the order lists specific repairs and you can fund them, do the work. A house brought back into compliance sells on the ordinary market to ordinary buyers, and that is a materially better outcome than any cash sale. If the number in the quotes is affordable, that is the route, and we will tell you so.

If the property is already demolished, you are selling a lot with a lien on it. That is a much smaller number than the one in your head, and it is worth knowing before you spend anything else on it. Our page on selling land in Tulsa covers what that market looks like.

We are useful in the middle case. The work is beyond what you can fund, the deadline is close, and the alternative is a demolition lien attached to a lot you still own. We buy in that condition, we take on the order and the timetable, and we say what we are paying and why. Our page on selling a house that needs repairs sets out how the number is built.

The short version

• Condemned covers three different things: an eminent domain taking, a dilapidated building proceeding, and an order that nobody may occupy the building
• Tulsa's dilapidation process runs under Title 24, Chapter 4 of the city code and 11 O.S. 22-112, with at least ten business days notice before a hearing
• Notice goes to the address on the current year's tax rolls, which is how absent owners miss it entirely
• A demolition cost becomes the owner's personal obligation and a lien coequal with ad valorem taxes and superior to other liens
• You can sell, but the buyer pool is cash and the order travels with the property
• Disclose it. This is not something to discover after closing
• If the repairs are affordable, doing them and selling normally beats any cash offer