50-62-103. Service of order to repair hazardous condition or demolish structure. (1) If the fire prevention and investigation program of the department of justice or any officer mentioned in 50-62-101, upon an examination or inspection, determines that a building or other structure constitutes a public nuisance for any reason identified in 50-62-102 and the condition cannot be removed or remedied within 24 hours, the program or officer shall order the hazardous condition to be repaired or the structure to be torn down or demolished and all dangerous conditions remedied.
     (2) The order shall be in writing, shall recite the grounds therefor, and shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court of the county in which the building or structure ordered to be altered, repaired, or demolished is situated, and thereupon all further proceedings for the enforcement thereof shall be had in that court.
     (3) A copy of the order filed as aforesaid, together with a written notice that it has been filed and will be put in force unless the owner, occupant, or tenant shall file with the clerk of the court his objections or answer thereto within the time specified in 50-62-104, shall be served upon the owner and any purchaser under contract for deed of the building or structure directed to be altered, repaired, or demolished. If there is a tenant occupying the building, service shall also be made upon him. Service shall be made upon the owner and occupant, if there is one, personally either within or without the state.
     (4) If the whereabouts of the owner or any purchaser under contract for deed is unknown and cannot be ascertained by the department of justice by the exercise of reasonable diligence, then upon filing in the office of the clerk of the district court an affidavit to this effect, service of the notice upon the owner or any purchaser under contract for deed may be made by the clerk of the district court by publication of it once in each week for 3 successive weeks in a newspaper printed and published in the county in which the building or structure is located and by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place upon the building or structure, and the service so made is complete upon the expiration of the publication period. Proof of service of the notice shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court within 5 days after the service thereof.

     History: En. Sec. 16, Ch. 148, L. 1911; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 95, L. 1913; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 212, L. 1919; re-en. Sec. 2753, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 139, L. 1929; re-en. Sec. 2753, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 82-1219(part); amd. Sec. 21, Ch. 37, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 526, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 706, L. 1991.