City of Victoria

In an effort to keep Victoria clean, healthy and aesthetically pleasing to all residents, Building Inspections is tasked with enforcing city ordinances relating to high grass and weeds, junk motor vehicles, sign violations, trash and dangerous buildings.

Each type of complaint received by code enforcement staff has a specific process required by law. There are two code enforcement officers on staff which must inspect each violation. The normal timeline for property to be inspected is within two business days.

Report a Code Compliant

There are several ways you can report a code complaint with our department.

Customer Service Request - Report complaints online.

Phone - Call 485-3330.

Email - All email complaints should be sent to codecomplaints@victoriatx.org. The e-mail should include the address of the property in question and a brief description of the concern or type of violation.

Walk-Ins & Mail - You can come in person and speak to a code enforcement officer or file a written complaint by mail. Our office is located at 700 Main Center, Suite 109, P.O. Box 1758, Victoria, Texas 77902.

Common Violations:

High Grass and Weeds - Grass/weeds over 12 inches high are a violation of Victoria City Code. Property owners and tenants are responsible for keeping their lawns mowed and clippings cleared from the adjacent sidewalk and street. Written notification is sent to the property owners or tenants who are allowed seven days to mow their property. If the violation has not been corrected after the time has elapsed, the city will mow the high grass and weeds and send the owner an invoice. (City Code, Chapter 10-41)
Junk Vehicles - A junk vehicle is defined as a vehicle that is self-propelled, has an expired registration or inspection sticker and is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, inoperable for more than 72 hours on the public right-of-way or inoperable for more than 30 consecutive days on private property. (City Code, Chapter 10-51) (As defined in Chapter 683 of the Texas Transportation Code.)
Trash and Debris - Homeowners and tenants are responsible for maintaining the area between the street and house free of junk, brush, rubbish, trash and debris. This includes the storage of any ice box, refrigerator, stove or similar item. (City Code, Chapter 10-41)
Unsafe Buildings - An unsafe building complaint (e.g. a building built on substandard foundation, fire hazardous wiring, etc.) takes a minimum of 135 days to resolve and includes inspecting the property, identifying the owner, contacting the owner, allowing a thirty day period, by State law, for the owner to correct the problem, conducting up to two more inspections with time allowed for corrective action on the part of the owner, and scheduling the case to go before the Building Standards Commission if the owner does not respond. The amount of time given to repair or demolish the structure is determined by the Building Standards Commission. If the property issue is still not resolved, demolition proceedings will begin. (City Code, Chapter 5-161)