Whitesboro code lays out how the city handles property-maintenance complaints

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Whitesboro residents who run into problems with the upkeep or condition of a property have a formal channel for raising the matter with the city, and a property-maintenance code the city council put in place in 2024 sets out what officials may do when a building is alleged to fall below minimum standards. The same code also marks a limit the city sets on its own role: it states that it will not carry out repairs on residential buildings that have 11 or more dwelling units.

According to the city's code-enforcement page, Whitesboro routes property-condition complaints through its MyGov online portal and lists a city building inspector, who also handles code enforcement, as the contact for those issues. The page names dilapidated structures and accumulations of junk or trash among the property problems the city most often handles. A resident can file either kind of complaint through the portal.

The written standard behind that work changed in 2024. The city council adopted the 2024 International Property Maintenance Code as Whitesboro's Minimum Building Standards Code on April 16, 2024, through Ordinance 1222, according to the city's online code library. The council later amended the code through Ordinance 1231, adopted March 11, 2025. The council's meeting record for April 16, 2024, lists the agenda documents posted for that session.

The code gives the city more than one option once officials have reasonable grounds to believe a violation exists. It allows a notice of violation to go to the owner and to others with a recorded interest in the property, followed by a hearing before the city's Building and Standards Commission. After a hearing, the commission can order a building repaired, removed or demolished. The code also provides for relocating occupants of an affected property and for civil penalties against an owner who does not comply.

For larger rental properties, the code states that the city will not repair a residential building with 11 or more dwelling units, leaving the cost and work of those repairs with the property owner rather than the city. The other enforcement steps still apply.

The public records reviewed for this report establish how a resident files a property-condition complaint and what the property-maintenance code permits. Those records do not name specific Whitesboro apartment complexes, describe particular resident complaints, identify alleged conditions inside any unit, or show whether the city has opened an enforcement case. Residents who want the city to review a property's condition can submit a complaint through the MyGov portal or contact the building inspector the city lists as its code-enforcement official.