Here are some of the resources on this topic, which we consulted in
preparing our ordinance.  Legal issues attendant to demolition by neglect
intersect with legal considerations for economic hardship and "takings" law.

Planning Advisory Service Report #416
Responding to the Takings Challenge: A Guide for Officials and Planners
Richard J. Roddewig and Christopher J. Duerksen
May 1989, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL
[This is a primary resource if you are planning on fooling around with
demolition by neglect in your historic preservation ordinance.  Must
reading]

Symposium on Economic Hardship in the Historic Preservation Context
May 27 and 28, 1992, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Sponsored by The Preservation League of NY State
518/462-5658
and the National Trust for Historic Preservation
202/673-4255

Counteracting Demolition by Neglect: Effective Regulations for Historic
District Ordinances
Oliver A. Pollard, III
The Alliance Review, Winter 1990
News from the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions


Since questions seem to be revolving around the standards for defining
demolition by neglect, I will type in the section of our ordinance that
lists our standards:

(a) Deterioration of exterior walls, foundations, or other vertical support
that causes leaning, sagging, splitting, listing, or buckling.
(b) Deterioration of flooring or floor supports, roofs, or other horizontal
members that causes leaning, sagging, splitting, listing, or buckling.
(c) Deterioration of external chimneys that causes leaning, sagging,
splitting, listing, or buckling.
(d) Deterioration or crumbling of exterior plasters or mortars.
(e) Ineffective waterproofing of exterior walls, roofs, and foundations,
including broken windows or doors.
(f) Defective protection or lack of weather protection for exterior wall
and roof coverings, including lack of paint, or weathering due to lack of
paint or other protective covering.
(g) Rotting, holes, and other forms of decay.
(h) Deterioration of exterior stairs, porches, handrails, window and door
frames, cornices, entablatures, wall facings, and architectural details
that causes delamination, instability, loss of shape and form, or crumbling.
(i) Heaving, subsidence, or cracking of sidewalks, steps, or pathways.
(j) Deterioration of fences, gates, and accessory structures)
(k) Deterioration that has a detrimental effect upon the special character
of the district as a whole or the unique attributes and character of the
Historic Landmark.
(l) Deterioration of any exterior feature so as to create or permit the
creation of any hazardous or unsafe conditions to life, safety, or other
property.
[Raleigh City Code, Part 10, Chapter 6, Article J. Demolition by Neglect of
Historic Landmarks and Structures within Historic Overlay Districts,
Section 10-6180, Standards.]

An important point in applying these types of ordinances is making sure you
have good timing.  Too early in the process of a building's deterioration,
and you risk not being able to legally demonstrate that you have a right to
force someone to fix it up.  If you wait too long, and it's really gone way
down hill, then an economic analysis may prove that the value of the
structure is so low, and the costs of repair so high, that forcing a person
to repair it would create an economic hardship.  In these cases the end
result is usually demolition.  But the legal standards for proving economic
hardship in the demolition by neglect context are complex and narrow; it's
hard for a property owner to demonstrate economic hardship, and it's a
legal minefield for enforcement that offers myriad opportunities for
procedural mistakes of due process that can result in being overturned on
appeal.

All in all, demolition by neglect ordinances are not a place for the faint
of heart.  But if you do it right, they can be very rewarding in preserving
resources that would otherwise be lost due to benign or intentional neglect.

Hope this helps.

_______________________________________________
Dan Becker,  Executive Director       "Conformists die, but
Raleigh Historic                                 heretics live on forever"
Districts Commission                                   -- Elbert Hubbard

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