renting while city have an open "unsafe structure violation"

[Ed Mar]

I purchased a house with the intention of renting it out, the city had a violation on the house (deemed structurally deficient) and said that nobody could occupy the house... the house is an old house (80 years) but apart from being old is in average condition, it was vacant while being foreclosed which gave the city the window to slap a violation on it.

my question is - what can the city do specifically if you rent the property against their wishes - what legal action can they take?  to fix the house to their requirements is financially a non starter - the only options are ignore their violation and derive some rent from the property or let them demolish the property and sell the land and break even.

Do they have me over a barrel? can i rent this property?