Can a Florida city make an owner fix up a neglected house?
When a code inspector finds a violation, the inspector must notify the owner and give a reasonable time to fix it; if it isn't fixed, the case goes to a hearing before the enforcement board. If the owner misses the board's deadline, the board can order a fine for each day the violation continues.
- The usual cap is $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat violation, plus the cost of any repairs.
- A county or city of 50,000 people or more can adopt an ordinance allowing higher fines, up to $1,000 a day for a first violation and $5,000 a day for a repeat violation.
If a violation is a serious threat to public health, safety and welfare, the inspector can go straight to the enforcement board and ask for a hearing. When a violation is a serious threat to public health, safety and welfare, the local government can make the reasonable repairs needed and charge the owner for them on top of the fine.
A recorded order imposing a fine, or a fine plus repair costs, becomes a lien on the land where the violation is. If the lien is still unpaid three months after it is filed, the board can authorize the local government's attorney to foreclose on it or sue for the amount, but a homestead can't be foreclosed on for it.
What happens when property taxes go unpaid on an empty Florida house?
When property taxes go unpaid, the county tax collector sells tax certificates on the property. Each certificate goes to the bidder who will pay the taxes and charges and accept the lowest interest rate.
The interest on a tax certificate can't go above 18 percent a year.
The owner can redeem a tax certificate any time after it is issued and before a tax deed is issued, unless full payment for the tax deed has already been made to the clerk. Once two years have passed since April 1 of the year the certificate was issued, its holder can apply for a tax deed.
When can a Florida property be declared a public nuisance?
Florida's public nuisance law covers places used more than twice in six months for selling, making or growing illegal drugs, among other listed crimes. After a hearing where the owner can present a defense, a local nuisance abatement board can declare such a place a public nuisance.
Any resident of the county or city can bring a complaint to that board after giving the owner at least three days' written notice.
The board can order the owner to abate the nuisance, or order that the place stop being operated or maintained, including closing it.
Is there a faster way to finish a foreclosure in Florida?
There's an optional fast track: a lienholder can ask the court for an order to show cause why a final judgment of foreclosure shouldn't be entered. The hearing can't be sooner than the later of 20 days after the order is served or 45 days after the complaint is served.
A defendant who doesn't show up or file defenses may be considered to have waived the right to a hearing.
The lender can also ask the court to order the owner to make payments while the foreclosure is pending, or to vacate the property. That payment-or-vacate option doesn't apply to the foreclosure of an owner-occupied home.
The borrower, or the holder of a junior interest, can still pay off what the judgment requires and prevent the foreclosure sale, up to the later of the clerk filing the certificate of sale or the time the judgment sets.
Some Florida cities run their own foreclosure registries; in Tampa, an online application is the first step in registering a foreclosed property, and the city may inspect it.
Carrying an empty Florida house on a loan that's fallen behind? Here's how a Florida foreclosure case moves.
How do you report a run-down vacant house in Florida?
Report it to the city or county code enforcement office, and give your name and address: a Florida code inspector can't start enforcement from an anonymous complaint.
That rule doesn't apply when the inspector has reason to believe the violation is an imminent threat to public health, safety or welfare.
In Tampa, for example, the Neighborhood Enhancement division takes complaints about overgrown lots or yards, the upkeep of buildings and public nuisances. Tampa takes those complaints by phone at (813) 274-5545.
Tampa also posts a list of privately owned properties the city has condemned.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.