Historic Preservation; Orders for Preservation Measures

The owners of historic monuments are legally obligated to maintain, repair, and properly care for their monuments, as well as to protect them from harm, to the extent that this can reasonably be expected of them. Under certain conditions, other groups of people are also obligated to do so. If these obligations are not fulfilled, the lower-level historic preservation authorities (counties, independent cities, and large county seats) have several options:

They may issue a so-called “historic preservation order.” This is an administrative act that requires an owner or other obligated party to carry out certain preservation measures or, at the very least, to permit another party to carry out these measures. They may also carry out absolutely necessary measures themselves or have them carried out by others.

Actions that damage or endanger a historic building may be prohibited.

In both cases, the authority must take particular care to ensure that nothing unreasonable is demanded of the obligated party.

Orders issued under historic preservation laws are free of charge. However, the authority may require a historic property owner, through such an order, to have certain preservation measures carried out at their own expense or to cover all or part of the costs of measures that the authority carries out itself.

administrative lawsuit