Troubleshooting Problems with Notices of Violation in Code Enforcement
Notices of violation are a critical tool in code enforcement, serving legal, administrative, and even community-focused purposes. At their best, notices provide critical information to property owners and help foster voluntary compliance. They also serve as legal documentation and notification should property owners choose not to remediate the situation.
Let’s take a closer look at the value of notices of violations, as well as ways that agencies can improve their notices for enhanced credibility and improved compliance rates.
The Many Roles of Notices of Violations
Notices of violations serve many purposes.
Legal and Administrative
Official documentation: NOVs create a formal record of violations, inspections, and enforcement actions, ensuring the process is well-documented.
Due process: Under the U.S. Constitution, a government agency cannot deprive its citizens of life, liberty or property without due process of law. NOVs provide that due process. They notify property owners of issues, ensuring individuals are given an opportunity to respond or correct the problem before penalties are imposed.
Basis for further action: If voluntary compliance is not achieved, the NOV serves as a precursor to more serious actions, such as fines, court summons, or property liens.
Encouraging Voluntary Compliance and Building Trust with the Community
Opportunity to correct issues: NOVs let property owners know there is an issue and offer them a chance to resolve violations before enforcement escalates, fostering voluntary cooperation.
Clarifying responsibilities: They provide clear instructions about what needs to be corrected, reducing confusion and resistance.
Preventing fines and legal escalation: By encouraging voluntary compliance, NOVs help avoid unnecessary fines or legal actions, saving both the government and the property owner time and money.
Education and Outreach: Notices also educate property owners about code requirements, helping them become more proactive in preventing future violations.
The Fundamentals of Notices of Violations (NOVs)
Voluntary compliance is the desired outcome of all code enforcement outreach. If done properly, notices of violations can be a critical tool in fostering that voluntary compliance. With that end goal in mind, notices of violation should address:
What is the problem? Notices should state the ordinance being broken and where it can be found in the code, but also clearly demonstrate how the ordinance is being broken in this specific instance. Specifics help to establish not only credibility but legal defensibility. Attaching pictures with the notice of violation can help to illustrate the problem.
How should the problem be addressed? Notices should clearly outline the steps for resolving the problem in order to be in compliance. If possible, include information on how the property owner can find more information or resources.
What is the timeline? Notices should clearly state how long the property owners have to comply by, and when the next scheduled inspection is.
What are the repercussions? The consequences of noncompliance can be helpful in motivating property owners to take action and resolve the issue on their own.
Common Problems with Notices
Notices are an essential part of the job. Unfortunately that doesn’t always mean it’s an easy part of the job.
Generating NOVs takes too long. Paperwork is a necessary evil of code enforcement, and notices and official letters can be a big part of the paperwork responsibilities. For officers and teams that generate their notices manually in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, notices can take up an inordinate amount of time during the day – especially if officers have to look up and type in each individual ordinance for a property with multiple violations. If your department includes pictures with your letters, this can add even more time, as photos often have to be transferred from a camera to a computer, where they are then embedded and reformatted into the document.
Residents ignore your NOVs. Property owners ignore notices and official letters for a variety of reasons that may have nothing to do with you – but if your notices are lacking an “official” look, this may be part of the problem. Some considerations for improving NOVs include:
Uniform design. Good design should go unnoticed, but poor design is always easy to spot – and although it might sound trivial, poor design can undermine the credibility of your communication. Utilizing a consistent format with uniform fonts, spacing and layout will give your notices a professional, official look that property owners may subconsciously take more seriously. Templates can go a long way toward ensuring a consistent format.
Visual indicators of credibility. Adding your municipality or county logo can instantly elevate the authority of your notices. If you don’t already, include the name and signature of your division supervisor, whether that’s the Head of Code Enforcement, your Chief of Police or Community Development Director, or even your mayor, to give your notice more authority and credibility.
Streamlining Notice Generation
If notices take too much of your day or you feel you could benefit from the standardization of a template, code enforcement software can help. With Comcate’s Code Enforcement Manager, officers can generate notices from a template with a single click. The system will input the property owner information, ordinances and even deadlines or reinspection dates from the case. Once generated, officers can add the notices to a print queue to be printed back at the office. Some officers even combine software with a mobile printer to print notices in the field, making one less thing they have to remember to do at the end of the day.
“The biggest change in my day to day is I don’t have to sit in the office for three to four hours, and sometimes an hour after my shift, to get these letters out.” Randy Ulery, Logansport, IN Code Enforcement
“The thing I find the most helpful is the fact that it generates our letters. It puts in the statutes and writes out all the information. Comcate cuts all the ‘think work’ out for you, which allows code officers to have a lot more time to be on the road instead of in the office.” – Marla Clark, Springfield, FL Code Enforcement
“We don’t have to customize each individual letter anymore. Now photographs are automatically embedded into the notices themselves, which is just amazing. That used to take me forever.” – Cat Jones, Urbana, OH Code Enforcement
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of code enforcement software, fill out the form below and one of our representatives will be in touch!
Schedule a Meeting with Comcate Today!
Learn how Comcate can help make government delivery simple, and offer a modern digital experience to help you increase transparency, efficiency, and performance across your departments. If you have any questions about implementing our software, please fill out the form below or call us directly at (415) 632-1248.
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