In court last year Christopher Anthony admitted damaging the Grade II-listed building during work in 2008.
The judge ruled Mr Anthony could not afford to pay the council's legal bill but gave permission for the issue to be revisited within a certain time frame.
Officials have now said Mr Anthony's circumstances have not changed and the order had been allowed to lapse.
The Hippodrome has been derelict for some years when much of the roof and part of the exterior walls collapsed in 2008.
In April 2010 developer Mr Anthony, of Bishops Stortford, was given a conditional discharge after admitting ordering work on the building without permission.
Since then the council has carried out £43,000 worth of stabilisation work on the structure.
A spokesman said: "Derby City Council intends to recover the cost of the works carried out on Macklin Street and we are reviewing Mr Anthony's financial circumstances to assess the available options."

Two lionesses escaped not long after midnight and were spotted on main roads in the city by morning.
Nairobi residents have been urged to stay away and report any further sightings to a free telephone line.
"Lions are dangerous wild animals. Don't confront them when you encounter them," KWS's Paul Udoto tweeted.
The KWS spokesman told the BBC that reports in the Kenyan media that six lions were on the loose were exaggerated.
The BBC's Abdinoor Aden in Nairobi says the park is separated by a main road from densely populated neighbourhoods in the south of the city.
Mr Udoto said he was concerned that people would try and tackle the lions themselves, as has happened in the past.
In 2012, four cubs had to be placed in an orphanage after a similar incident led to the killing of their mother.
One of the lionesses currently on the loose has left her cubs in the park, Mr Udoto said.
Answering a question on Twitter from a worried mother, Mr Udoto advised her to keep her children inside until the lions had been safely returned to the park, adding such incidents were the "perils of born town lions".
It is estimated about about 30 lions live in the park.
Derby City Council has decided not to pursue the owner of the Hippodrome Theatre for £17,000 in legal costs.
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The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is hunting for at least two lions which have escaped from Nairobi National Park bordering the capital, Nairobi.