How To Stop A Demolition On Your Louisville House

Receiving a letter from the city of Louisville announcing the demolition of your property can be devastating! Are you wondering how to stop a demolition on your Louisville House? I have personally been there before! Somebody caught my 3-unit apartment complex on fire and then the city filed a demolition notice! If you’re in this situation, you need to act quickly as the city usually demolishes all houses within 30 days of giving the notice. I’m here to guide you on how to stop a demolition on your Louisville House, based on my personal experience.

First Step: Identify The Ownership of The Property

Begin by identifying if your property is registered in your personal name or under an LLC. This is crucial because if your property is under an LLC, you will need to hire an attorney, which unfortunately might cost you some more money than being able to file the injunction yourself but also will ensure it will get done correctly. If you need an attorney to use to stop a demolition on your Louisville House I would personally recommend Sorrels Law Office.

Is the Louisville Property in Your Personal Name?

If your property is in your personal name, you can save some money and proceed with the next steps. You are going to search for the Louisville Kentucky Demolition Department and Code and Building Department, get their contact and make a call to ask them for the specific process and paperwork and the process on how to stop a demolition on your Louisville House.

Second Step: File an Injunction Against The City Of Louisville

You will need to file an injunction against the city and that is how to stop a demolition on your Louisville house. An injunction is a legal document that you fill out, which can prevent the city from demolishing your property. Even if the property is in your personal name, it may still be wise to have an attorney file this for you, ensuring the process is carried out correctly here.

Is Your Louisville Property Under an LLC?

If your property is under an LLC, your attorney will need to fill out the injunction and turn it in to halt the demolition order. Your attorney will be able to find out where to file this and how to file it but I would make sure they do it as soon as possible so the city can be notified that your attorney has filed one.

Third Step: Present Your Case in Court

After filing an injunction, you will need to appear in court to present your case on why your property shouldn’t be torn down. You will need to have a practical solution for the problem your property poses. What I had to do in my case where the property was fire damaged was get a report from a licensed structural engineer in Louisville which we talked about below!

Engage a Licensed Structural Engineer

I recommend hiring a licensed structural engineer for residential property to make a report on the property. The report should outline the necessary work needed for the property to be safe and habitable. Once this is done, you can present the report to the city. If the city approves the work outlined in the report, they will lift the demolition order, allowing you to repair the property. You will need to use a licensed general contractor to fix the property and the city of Louisville will most likely give you a time frame in which the property needs to be repaired or else they will resume with the demolition so it is important to have a plan and funds available to fix your property and stop the demolition.

What If You Don’t Have a Plan or Funds?

If you don’t have a plan or the necessary funds to fix the property, the city might not lift the demolition order. In this case, your best option would be to sell your property as soon as possible with the new buyer taking responsibility for the demolition. File the injunction, it will give you more time to work on getting a solution for your house and finding a buyer willing to purchase your property despite the ongoing demolition order.

Conclusion

If you find yourself in this situation and need help, please reach out. We have dealt with this situation before and I am more than happy to assist. You can text or call us at 502-461-1450 or fill out our form below.

If you know anyone else going through the same thing or wanting to sell a property, refer them to us. If we buy their house, you will receive a check for $1,750 at the closing table.

Video guide On How To Stop A Demolition In Louisville

Video Transcript

Have you got a letter from the city of Louisville saying that they are going to demo your house? Well, if you do, you need to act quickly, I promise you, you need to act quickly because they demo all their houses within 30 days of you receiving the letter. So if you receive a letter on August 1st, that can mean by August 30th that your property is going to be torn down by the city. The city will tear it down and then charge you a massive, massive, massive amount of money to tear this down as well. You don’t want that to happen.

Alright, so we’re going to talk about how you can stop that from happening. And I’m talking from personal experience. I had a property at 2718 West Market that I used to own. Somebody caught it on fire, and the city tried to demo it, and I had a whole process to go through.

The first thing you’re going to look at is, is the property in my personal name or is it an LLC? If your property is an LLC, then you’re going to need an attorney, unfortunately, which will cost more money, which sucks, but if you want to save the property, that’s what you’ve got to do. Alright, so if it’s in your personal name, great. So what you’re going to do is, if it’s in your personal name, you’re going to look up Louisville, Kentucky Demolition Department. It’s going to show you the Demolition Department. You’re going to call them, and then what you’re going to need is to file an injunction against the city.

An injunction is a legal type of paperwork document that you fill out, and then you can get it back to the city. If you are an LLC, your attorney has to fill this out and turn it in. And even if it’s in your personal name, I would still maybe recommend having an attorney file it for you so that this can stop the order of the demolition. And then from there, what you’re going to need to do is go to court with the city and show them why your property shouldn’t be torn down. So you’re going to have to figure out a solution for that.

For me, what I did is I got a licensed structural engineer for residential property. I got him to go out and make a report on the property. And then with the report on the property, it said this work needed to be done. And from there, the city said, “Okay, if you do this work and this work gets done, then we’re going to take the demolition order off. We’re not going to demo it. We’re going to let you fix the property.” So that’s what I had to do in order to do that. And that’s going to be kind of the similar process that you all go through.

But if you don’t have a plan to fix it or you don’t have the money or allocated funds, chances are they’re not going to let you not get it demoed. So you need to sell that sucker as soon as possible and file the injunction and find a buyer who will buy your property with that problem going on. If you want to, if you need help with this situation, please reach out, as I’ve dealt with this before.

You can call me at 502-461-1450. Again, that’s 502-461-1450. Or you can visit our website at louisvillecashrealestate.com. Thank you all for watching this video and taking the time out of your day to do this. And if you want to sell your property and not deal with this, I understand. Give me a call or you can visit the website louisvillecashrealestate.com. And if you know anybody else going through the same thing or wanting to sell a property, if you refer them to us and we buy their house at theclosing table, you will receive a check for $1,750 on the property. Thank you and have an amazing day.