Most "most common code violations" articles are guesses. They list the ten things a home inspector nags you about and call it data. This one is counted: 83,788 real code violation cases across seven Puget Sound markets, pulled from the live database I use for deal sourcing. Updated as the data refreshes.
Two quick honesty notes before the numbers. First, roughly 48,000 of those cases carry no type field, because some cities publish an uncategorized feed. The ranking below is the ~35,400 cases that do carry a type. Second, these are counts, not predictions. A common violation isn't automatically a good lead, which I get into below.
The most common code violations, by type
Ranked by case count across all seven markets, typed cases only:
| Rank | Violation type | Cases | Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Construction | 8,632 | 7,238 |
| 2 | Land Use | 7,504 | 6,012 |
| 3 | Landlord / Tenant | 3,819 | 2,638 |
| 4 | Weeds / overgrowth | 3,256 | 2,828 |
| 5 | Emergency | 2,399 | 1,983 |
| 6 | Graffiti | 2,165 | 1,361 |
| 7 | Vacant Building | 1,687 | 1,359 |
| 8 | Noise | 1,368 | 1,064 |
| 9 | ECA (critical areas) | 1,246 | 1,073 |
The headline surprise for most investors: Construction is the most common type by a wide margin, and it's the one I care about least. A construction or permit violation usually means the owner is improving the property, not abandoning it. High volume, low signal. I explain that inversion in which violation types signal a motivated seller.
How it breaks down by city
Volume tracks how aggressively a city enforces and how it publishes, not how "bad" a city is. Tacoma and Pierce County publish deep, largely uncategorized feeds; Seattle and Bellevue publish typed cases.
| Market | Total violations | Distinct properties |
|---|---|---|
| Tacoma | 22,888 | 12,496 |
| Pierce County | 22,369 | 11,274 |
| Seattle | 17,918 | 11,686 |
| Burien | 10,515 | 4,417 |
| Bellevue | 7,660 | 5,098 |
| Shoreline | 2,098 | 1,541 |
| Mountlake Terrace | 333 | 291 |
In Seattle, where typing is cleanest, the most common categories are Landlord/Tenant (3,817), Construction (3,754), Weeds (2,322), Land Use (2,097), and Vacant Building (417, plus 349 more stacked with an emergency order).
Most properties have one violation. The leads have several.
Counts by type tell you what cities cite. The more useful number is how violations pile up on a single property:
- 30,557 properties with exactly 1 violation
- 11,932 properties with 2 to 3
- 2,633 properties with 4 to 5
- 1,656 properties with 6 or more
So 16,221 properties (about 35%) carry two or more violations. That repetition is a far better distress signal than any single common type, because one citation is an event and six is a pattern, and seeing how violations overlap with other distress signals only strengthens the case. It's the raw material for signal stacking.
How many are still open
A common count includes every case ever recorded, most of which are long resolved. For an investor, the live ones are what matter. In our data, about 66,000 of the 83,788 cases are marked closed, leaving roughly 17,700 that are still active, spread across statuses like "under investigation," "notice issued," and past-deadline, and the enforcement stage a case has reached tells you more than the open/closed flag alone. Those open cases are the working list. A closed case tells you the property had a problem; an open one tells you it still does, and that the owner is still under the clock. When you pull a list, filter to open first, then sort by type and recency.
How fresh the data is
This isn't a historical archive. Roughly 17,600 new code violations land across these markets in a typical year, which is why a code violation list is a live feed, not a one-time download. Working the recent, still-open cases is most of the edge, and it's the argument for treating violations as a leading indicator.
Want to check a specific address instead of the aggregate? Here's how to look up code violations on any property, or browse them on the free map.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common code violation?
In our seven-market Puget Sound dataset, the most common typed category is Construction (8,632 cases), followed by Land Use, Landlord/Tenant, Weeds, and Emergency. Construction leads largely because permit and remodel issues are cited often, though they're a weak signal of a distressed owner.
What are the most common property maintenance violations?
Weeds and overgrowth (3,256 cases) are the most common visible-neglect category, along with junk and debris storage. These are the "you can see it from the street" violations, and they're a real deferred-maintenance tell when they repeat or stack with other signals.
How many code violations are there?
Across the Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Burien, Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Pierce County data FlaggedLeads tracks, there are 83,788 recorded code violations on 46,778 properties as of July 2026, with roughly 17,600 new cases per year.
Which is the most common city for code violations?
By raw case count in our data, Tacoma (22,888) and Pierce County (22,369) lead, ahead of Seattle (17,918). This reflects how deeply each jurisdiction publishes its enforcement data, not that one city is in worse shape than another.
Are these the most common violations everywhere?
No. This ranking is specific to the Puget Sound markets we track and to how each city categorizes cases. The broad categories (construction, land use, maintenance, vacant, emergency) are common nationwide, but the exact order shifts by region and by how each jurisdiction publishes its data.