2023 Indiana Code › Title 36. Local Government › Article 7. Planning and Development › Chapter 9. Unsafe Building Law › 36-7-9-13. Notice of Unpaid Costs; Filing With Clerk of Court; Hearing; Judgment Lien

Sec. 13. (a) If all or any part of the costs listed in section 12 of this chapter remain unpaid for any unsafe premises (other than unsafe premises owned by a governmental entity) for more than fifteen (15) days after the completion of the work, the enforcement authority does not act under section 13.5 of this chapter, and the enforcement authority determines that there is a reasonable probability of obtaining recovery, the enforcement authority shall prepare a record stating:
(1) the name and last known address of each person who held a known or recorded fee interest, life estate interest, or equitable interest of a contract purchaser in the unsafe premises from the time the order requiring the work to be performed was recorded to the time that the work was completed;
(2) the legal description or address of the unsafe premises that were the subject of work;
(3) the nature of the work that was accomplished;
(4) the amount of the unpaid bid price of the work that was accomplished; and
(5) the amount of the unpaid average processing expense.
(b) The enforcement authority, or its head, shall swear to the accuracy of the record before the clerk of the circuit court and deposit the record in the clerk's office. Notice that the record has been filed and that a hearing on the amounts indicated in the record may be held must be sent in the manner prescribed by section 25 of this chapter to all of the following:
(1) The persons named in the record.
(2) Any mortgagee that has a known or recorded substantial property interest.
(c) If, within thirty (30) days after the notice required by subsection (b), a person named in the record or a mortgagee files with the clerk of the circuit court a written petition objecting to the claim for payment and requesting a hearing, the clerk shall enter the cause on the docket of the circuit or superior court as a civil action, and a hearing shall be held on the question in the manner prescribed by IC 4-21.5. However, issues that could have been determined under section 8 of this chapter may not be entertained at the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court shall either sustain the petition or enter a judgment against the persons named in the record for the amounts recorded or for modified amounts.
(d) If no petition is filed under subsection (c), the clerk of the circuit court shall enter the cause on the docket of the court and the court shall enter a judgment for the amounts stated in the record.
(e) A judgment under subsection (c) or (d), to the extent that it is not satisfied under IC 27-2-15, is a debt and a lien on all the real and personal property of the person named, or a joint and several debt and lien on the real and personal property of the persons named in the record prepared under subsection (a). The lien on real property is perfected against all creditors and purchasers when the judgment is entered on the judgment docket of the court. The lien on personal property is perfected by filing a lis pendens notice in the appropriate filing office, as prescribed by the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure.
(f) Judgments rendered under this section may be enforced in the same manner as all other judgments are enforced.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation: 18-5-5.5-16 part.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.28. Amended by P.L.59-1986, SEC.12; P.L.7-1987, SEC.167; P.L.247-1989, SEC.3; P.L.31-1994, SEC.12; P.L.169-2006, SEC.64; P.L.159-2020, SEC.81.