Birmingham's Vacant Property Registry: What the 2026 Law Means for an Empty House

If you own an empty house in Birmingham, the rules around it changed this year, though not in the way most of the coverage suggested. The Alabama Legislature passed HB315 in the 2026 regular session, and it becomes effective October 1, 2026. It applies to Birmingham alone, because Birmingham is Alabama's only Class 1 municipality (Ala. Code § 11-40-12, which defines Class 1 as cities of 300,000 or more).

What the act does is give the city a power it did not have before. What it does not do is put a single house on a registry. That distinction matters most to the people this lands hardest on, which is usually an heir two states away holding a house nobody wants to clean out, or a landlord who is done and has an empty unit sitting between tenants.

What Alabama's 2026 vacant property law actually does

HB315 gives Birmingham permission to build a vacant property registration and maintenance program, and it sets the outer limits of what that program may contain. The act creates no registry, imposes no fee, and names no property. It is a grant of authority to a single city, written as local legislation and referred to the Jefferson County Legislation committee, and its substance sits in the sentence "the governing body of a Class 1 municipality may adopt a vacant property registration ordinance" (HB315, Section 6(a)).

The reason the state had to act at all is that Alabama cities have only the powers the Legislature grants them. Birmingham asked for this one directly. The city's 2026 legislative agenda listed authority to require owners of properties vacant for 90 days or more to register, pay fees, and meet basic maintenance standards, and it put a number on the problem: Birmingham spends more than $4 million a year tearing down dilapidated houses and mowing overgrown lots that belong to other people (City of Birmingham, 2026 Legislative Agenda).

The act also fences the city in. If Birmingham adopts an ordinance, that ordinance must create a citywide registration database, must designate a program administrator, must include a specific list of exemptions, and must give owners notice and appeal rights (HB315, Sections 6 through 8). Government property is excluded outright: the ordinance cannot apply to property owned by the federal government, the State of Alabama, a political subdivision, or a public corporation.

Does Birmingham require you to register a vacant house?

Not today, and not automatically on October 1. Birmingham has no vacant property registration ordinance in force as of July 2026, so there is nothing to register, no form to file, and no fee due. The state act supplies the authority and the ceiling; the city supplies the actual rules, and the city has not written them yet.

Two lines in the act settle this. Section 2 reads: "The provisions of this act shall apply in any Class 1 municipality that adopts an ordinance to be applicable to the registration of vacant property in the municipality." Section 6(a) uses "may adopt," not "shall adopt." Together they make the whole scheme conditional on a Birmingham City Council vote that has not happened.

So October 1, 2026 is the date Birmingham can begin, not the date you become delinquent. The practical advice is to watch the Birmingham City Council agenda through the fall rather than treating the state effective date as a personal deadline. When an ordinance does pass, it will set its own start date, its own fee amounts inside the state ceilings, and its own registration windows.

Some April 2026 coverage described the act as already requiring Birmingham owners to register and pay. That reporting tracked the bill as introduced in January, and the version that became law is meaningfully narrower on several points.

What the Birmingham vacant house ordinance would treat as vacant

Under the act, a building is vacant when it lacks the habitual presence of people who have a legal right to be there, or when occupancy has ceased for 90 consecutive days, together with evidence of unkempt vacancy (HB315, Section 5). Both halves matter. An empty house alone is not the trigger the statute describes; an empty house that looks empty is.

"Evidence of unkempt vacancy" is defined with a closed list: overgrown or dead vegetation including grass and shrubbery, an accumulation of abandoned personal property, trash, or other waste, visible deterioration or lack of maintenance, graffiti or other defacement, and broken windows, doors, or other access points showing the building is not secure from the public or the elements. Every item on that list is something a lawn service and a sheet of plywood can address.

The definition also carries three carve-outs written into the statute itself. A single-family house the owner uses regularly as a second residence, or intends to return to, is not vacant if it is maintained without substantial or persistent evidence of unkempt vacancy. A commonly owned multi-unit building is not vacant if at least one unit is occupied with evidence of utility usage. And a multi-unit residential or commercial building actively marketed for sale or lease, shown by an in-force listing agreement or reasonable evidence of other active marketing, is not vacant.

Registration timing, if an ordinance adopts the act's framework, runs from the later of three points: 30 days after the property is deemed vacant, 30 days after you assume ownership of an already-vacant property, or 90 days after you take ownership through foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure (Section 7(a)). Before any of that bites, the program administrator has to send written notice to you and to any lienholder and post a placard of at least 24 by 24 inches on a street-facing side of the building (Section 7(b)).

How much the Birmingham vacant property registry could cost

The act caps an annual registration fee at $250 in the first year and at 150 percent of the previous year's fee in each year after, with an absolute ceiling of $1,000 a year (HB315, Section 7(d)(1)). Those are maximums that a Birmingham ordinance may not exceed, so the city could set lower amounts. The table below shows the escalation at the statutory ceilings.

Set that against what the underlying asset is worth in the lower-value parts of the city. Birmingham's Zillow typical home value was $104,605, down 3.1% year over year (Zillow, April 2026), while Redfin reported a median sale price of $192,000, up 13.1% year over year (Redfin, March 2026). Those two figures move in opposite directions because the citywide median rose on mix shift as more expensive Over-the-Mountain suburban houses sold, while values in the core softened. We cover that split in full in our guide to why Birmingham value estimates disagree.

For a core-neighborhood house closer to the Zillow figure than the Redfin one, five years of registration fees at the statutory ceilings would be roughly 3% of the property's typical value, before you count taxes, insurance, mowing, and securing the building. Fees may be refundable on a prorated basis for the year preceding the date the property stops being vacant (Section 7(d)(2)), so the meter can be stopped.

Inspections, fines, and liens under a vacant house ordinance

An ordinance may allow the program administrator to inspect the interior and exterior of a registered vacant property upon at least 10 days' prior notice to the owner, and at one-year intervals after that for as long as the property stays on the database (HB315, Section 8(b)). The 10-day notice requirement is in the enrolled act. Earlier drafts allowed inspection "upon registration and at one-year intervals thereafter or more frequently if necessary," with no notice period, which is where the widely repeated claim about unannounced inspections comes from.

Fines are capped at $1,000 per violation, and the city may also sue to collect unpaid registration fees in any court of competent jurisdiction (Section 8(c)). Unpaid fees and unpaid fines become a lien on the property, but the statute conditions that on one concrete step: the lien attaches "only upon the recording of a notice of the lien in the probate office." No recorded notice, no lien.

Where the lien sits in line is the detail worth knowing. Any lien created under the act is subordinate to all other liens, including prior mortgages, fixture filings, mechanic's and materialman's liens, and the tax liens referenced in Ala. Code § 11-51-6 (Section 8(e)). The same subsection lets the municipality release liens or waive accrued fees and fines when the property transfers to a good faith purchaser, which is a meaningful piece of flexibility for anyone trying to sell out of a problem.

The act also lets an ordinance require you to enclose and secure the building and maintain it to minimum code standards, and it lets the city step in after at least 30 days' notice to bring the property into compliance at your cost (Section 8(d)). Those abatement and demolition costs are a separate track from registration fees, and Birmingham has been running that track since a 2025 code enforcement ordinance that allows lien foreclosure on non-owner-occupied blighted property. We cover that separately in our guide to Birmingham demolition and weed abatement liens.

You get notice and an appeal either way. Prior notice of an adverse decision goes by certified mail to the registered owner at the probate office address, or the tax assessor or revenue commissioner records, at least 10 days beforehand (Section 8(a)(4)). Appeals of a violation or fine go to the municipal court division that handles code violations, then to circuit court within 30 days, with the non-prevailing party paying the costs of appeal (Section 8(a)(5)).

The exemptions that matter most to heirs and landlords

The act forces Birmingham to write exemptions into any ordinance it passes, and several of them line up almost exactly with why a house sits empty in the first place. Section 7(d)(4) uses "shall provide exemptions," not "may," and gives a floor list that an ordinance has to include at minimum.

The one that covers the most Birmingham situations is probate. An ordinance must exempt, for a reasonable period not to exceed 24 months, vacant property that is subject to divorce, probate, or estate proceedings in Alabama. Alabama probate commonly runs 6 to 12 months because of the six-month creditor claim period, so a normal estate should fit inside that window with room left. The same clause covers a house tied up in a divorce.

The rest of the required list: property that is only a seasonal residence; property damaged by fire, weather, an act of God, or vandalism where the owner shows an intent to repair; property under construction or renovation; and property where the owner is temporarily absent but has shown an intent to return. There is also a restoration-plan waiver. File a plan to return the house to productive use and occupancy and the fee is waived for 12 months, extendable by up to one more year if conditions outside your control got in the way, though you owe the waived fee if restoration has not started by the deadline (Section 7(d)(4)f).

Separately, Section 7(d)(3) requires an exemption for vacant property "advertised in good faith for sale or lease on commercially reasonable terms," for time periods the ordinance sets. A genuine sale effort is protected. The catch is duration, because Birmingham houses took a median of 55 days to sell as of March 2026 (Redfin, March 2026), and a slow listing on a core-neighborhood house can run well past that before it closes.

Your options for an empty Birmingham house

An owner holding an empty Birmingham house has four practical paths, and the registry changes the arithmetic on the last one more than the others. None of these is the right answer for everyone; the table sets out what each one costs and who it suits.

The honest read is that registering and maintaining is a reasonable move if the house has a future you can name. The costs stack against you only when the empty period has no end date, which is the exact situation the act was written to reach.

Selling an empty Birmingham house

Selling ends the registry obligation, because the duty attaches to the vacant property and the owner of record, and a closing transfers both. The act also treats a genuine sale effort as an exemption in its own right while the house is still yours, and it lets the city release liens or waive accrued fees and fines on a transfer to a good faith purchaser (Section 7(d)(3), Section 8(e)). One point to know if you are the buyer rather than the seller: a subsequent owner who is not related by blood or marriage and who buys in good faith for value assumes the previous owner's obligations under the ordinance (Section 8(a)(1)).

Propcash is a direct cash homebuyer. We buy houses in Birmingham with our own funds, in any condition, and cash transactions can close in as few as 7 days. There are no agent commissions, no closing costs charged to you, and no fees. Propcash is 100% free for sellers, with no repairs, no cleaning, and no cleanout. Take what you want and leave the rest. Our offers are based on local market data, and we will show you how we got to our number.

We will also tell you when a cash sale is not your best move. If the house is in decent condition, sits in a neighborhood where listings move, and you have months rather than weeks, listing with a local agent may net you more, and we will say so and point you to someone local. For city-level detail, see Birmingham cash buyer options, or our Alabama cash home buyer page for statewide options.

Or call or text (615) 552-4296 to speak with the decision-maker. Our offer stands, so you can take it to an attorney before you decide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Birmingham have a vacant property registry right now?

No. Alabama HB315 gives Birmingham the authority to create one, but it does not create one by itself. Section 2 of the act states that its provisions apply in a Class 1 municipality that adopts an ordinance for the registration of vacant property, and Section 6(a) says the governing body may adopt such an ordinance. Until the Birmingham City Council passes that ordinance, there is no registry, no registration form, and no fee to pay.

When does the Birmingham vacant property registry take effect?

The act itself becomes effective October 1, 2026 (HB315, Section 10). That date is when Birmingham gains the legal authority to act, not when owners start owing anything. The registration duties, the fee, and the deadlines all begin on the schedule the city writes into its own ordinance, and the city has not adopted one as of July 2026. Watch the Birmingham City Council agenda rather than the October 1 date.

What counts as a vacant property under the Birmingham vacant house ordinance?

The act defines a vacant building as one lacking the habitual presence of people with a legal right to be there, or one where occupancy has ceased for 90 consecutive days, together with evidence of unkempt vacancy (HB315, Section 5). Evidence of unkempt vacancy means overgrown or dead vegetation, accumulated trash or abandoned belongings, visible deterioration, graffiti, or broken windows and doors that leave the building unsecured. An empty house that is mowed, secured, and maintained does not show that evidence, which is the practical dividing line for most owners.

How much is the Birmingham vacant property registration fee?

The act sets ceilings rather than fixed amounts. An ordinance may charge an initial annual fee of up to $250, and for each following year up to 150 percent of the prior year's fee, with a hard cap of $1,000 per year (HB315, Section 7(d)(1)). At the ceilings that is $250, then $375, then $562.50, then $843.75, then $1,000 a year from year five onward. Birmingham could set lower numbers, and the act also allows fees to be refunded on a prorated basis once a property is no longer vacant.

Can Birmingham put a lien on my house for unpaid vacant property fees?

Yes, but only after a specific step. Unpaid registration fees and unpaid fines become a lien on the property only upon the recording of a notice of the lien in the probate office (HB315, Section 8(c)). Any lien created under the act is subordinate to all other liens, including prior mortgages, mechanic's and materialman's liens, and tax liens. The act also lets the municipality release liens or waive accrued fees and fines when the property transfers to a good faith purchaser.

Is an inherited house in probate exempt from the Birmingham vacant property registry?

The act requires an ordinance to provide an exemption for a reasonable period not to exceed 24 months for property subject to divorce, probate, or estate proceedings in Alabama (HB315, Section 7(d)(4)e). That is a mandatory exemption, not an optional one, though the exact length and the paperwork are left to the city ordinance. Heirs should expect to document the open estate rather than assume the exemption applies automatically. Alabama probate commonly runs 6 to 12 months, so the 24-month window covers most estates.

Can I sell a vacant Birmingham house instead of registering it?

Yes, and the act treats a genuine sale effort favorably. An ordinance must exempt vacant property that is advertised in good faith for sale or lease on commercially reasonable terms for time periods set in the ordinance (HB315, Section 7(d)(3)). A completed sale removes the obligation entirely, since the duty follows the vacant property and the owner of record. Propcash is a direct cash homebuyer and buys vacant Birmingham houses as-is, and cash transactions can close in as few as 7 days.