Local governing authorities may regulate or ban abandoned junk vehicles and similar items, and may order their removal after notice.
§4876. Abandoned automobiles, major appliances, and other junk; disposition A. The governing authority of any municipality or parish may enact ordinances regulating or prohibiting the storing or abandoning of junk, wrecked, or used automobiles or motor vehicles, or any part or parts thereof, or any other junk, discarded or abandoned major appliances, such as refrigerators, freezers, ranges, or machinery or other metal, tin, or other discarded items, on any vacant lot, or any portion of any occupied lot, neutral ground, street, or sidewalk, within the municipality or parish. Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, a governing authority, except in any parish with a population between four hundred twenty thousand persons and four hundred thirty thousand persons based on the latest federal decennial census, may enact ordinances that are less or more restrictive than R.S. 32:443 as it relates to abandoned or stored motor vehicles which could be deemed of historic or special interest. B. The term "junk, wrecked, or used automobiles or motor vehicles" as used in this Section shall mean any motor vehicle which is totally inoperable; left unattended on any portion of any occupied lot, neutral ground, street, or sidewalk; and is so damaged or dismantled as to be a total loss, including abandoned or stored motor vehicles which could be deemed of historic or special interest. The term "inoperable" shall apply to vehicles that remain inoperable for seventy-two consecutive hours on public property or thirty consecutive days on private property. The term "total loss" shall mean that the cost to repair a damaged or dismantled motor vehicle exceeds the junk value of the vehicle, as determined by any recognized national appraisal book. The ordinance shall provide for the removal and disposition of such junk motor vehicles after notice of not less than ten days either placed on the vehicle itself or given to the owner, if known. Any vehicle which remains on the public ways or private property described in this Subsection after notice given as provided in the ordinance shall be considered as public property and disposed of by the municipality or parish as the governing authority may designate. In the case of other abandoned property set forth in Subsection A of this Section, the notice shall be given to the owner of the lot or parcel of ground upon which the junk material is located, and the cost of removing the material shall constitute a special lien collectible in the same manner as special assessments are collectible by law. C. In the exercise of the authority herein granted, the governing authority may provide for the removal of such abandoned junk by the municipality or parish and for the collection of the cost of removal, not to exceed two hundred dollars, from the owner of the material and, among other things, may require, but not by way of limitation, that any vacant lot or portion of any occupied lot used for the storage of junk, as herein defined, shall be surrounded or enclosed by a board fence or other enclosure. Added by Acts 1970, No. 187, §1. Amended by Acts 1972, No. 348, §1; Acts 1981, No. 703, §1; Acts 2005, No. 317, §1, eff. June 29, 2005; Acts 2024, No. 718, §2.