What the city can and can't require when you sell

Good to know first: you don't need to do any of this to ask us for a number, and a title company handles the closing paperwork. This page is here if you want the background.

Can Superior make me fix or inspect before I sell?

Under state law, no local government may restrict an owner's ability to sell or transfer title by requiring certain actions with respect to the property, or a related fee. The statute's list of those actions is long: inspections, repairs, removing junk, mowing, upgrading electrical, and meeting building codes. It covers the time before the sale, at the sale, and within a set period after.

It protects your buyer in much the same way: a local government can't put those requirements on a person purchasing or taking title.

Two limits, both in the same statute. A local government can still require action on a property when it isn't connected with the sale. And it can still enforce a federal or state requirement. So an order already on your house doesn't vanish because you're selling. Tell your buyer about it.

What we couldn't read

Superior publishes its code of ordinances on Municode, and we couldn't open it. That means we can't tell you what the city says about rental registration, vacant buildings, or property maintenance. We won't guess. These offices can:

What if my house has been condemned or placarded?

State law gives the steps, and your own order will say which applies. Read that paper closely.

• When a building is dangerous, unsafe, or unfit to live in and unreasonable to repair, the inspector or governing body can order the owner to raze it.
• Repairs are presumed unreasonable when they'd cost more than 50 percent of the building's assessed value, adjusted by the state's ratio for the city.
• A building that's unsanitary and unfit, but not about to fall, gets a placard, and nobody can live in it until repairs are made.

Before you do anything, call Building Inspection and ask what the order requires and whether a sale changes who must comply. A house under an order can be hard to sell the normal way. Tell us about the order if you call, and take the order to a Wisconsin attorney if it has a deadline.

Rentals

State law limits how far a city can go with landlords. A city can't require a rental to be inspected except on a complaint, under a set program, or where state or federal law requires it. A program like that has to be tied to designated districts, such as areas with evidence of blight or high rates of code violations.

Superior's 2040 plan says the zoning code should consider rental inspections. A plan isn't an ordinance, and we couldn't read what the code says today. Ask Building Inspection.

Special assessments

A sidewalk or blacktop assessment that isn't paid in full can move onto your tax bill over 10 annual installments. Before a closing, ask for the balance by email at closinginformation@ci.superior.wi.us.

If your house sits near the water

The city's plan names the Billings Park area and the Itasca neighborhood near Allouez Bay as including homes vulnerable to coastal erosion. That's a general statement about the areas, not a finding about your lot. If you know of erosion on your property, it belongs on your condition report and in any conversation with a buyer.

How the city's housing looks

Old houses are normal here. The city's plan says almost 40 percent of Superior homes were built before 1939. In its 2019 figures, 44.6 percent of homes were rented, against 32.5 percent across Douglas County. Residents surveyed for the plan listed affordable homes in poor condition among their concerns.

The plan put the 2019 median home value at $120,800. That number is old and a city-wide middle. It doesn't tell you what your house is worth, today, in its condition.