Seminole weighs amnesty as code-enforcement incentive
The owner of a mobile home tucked away off State Road 434 currently has little incentive to settle a Seminole County codeenforcement lien of more than $1.1 million for more than a decade’s worth of overgrown vegetation, trash and debris on the property, officials say.
After all, the land and home on Champion Avenue near Longwood have an assessed value of about $8,000, less than 1% of the lien amount.
It’s also unlikely that Alan Davis, the defiant “Junk Man” who gained notoriety for hauling broken-down cars, junk and other rubbish into his front yard, would settle a nearly $1.6 million code-enforcement lien dating to 2000. His property near Altamonte Springs is valued at about $125,000.
Seminole County commissioners — long frustrated by the county’s inability to collect roughly $53 million in outstanding code-enforcement liens — think a proposed six-month amnesty program might be just the motivation code-enforcement scofflaws need to clean up their properties.
On Tuesday, commissioners will take up the measure aimed at persuading violators to mow their lawns, clean their pools and get rid of the junk in their yards.
“Let’s see what we can do to help these people come into compliance,” Commissioner Jay Zembower said in support of the program. “Let’s get these properties cleaned up and off the books.”
Under the proposed “code enforcement lien amnesty program” — which would run from Jan. 1 through July 1, 2020 — the county would reduce by 90% the total lien amount if a delinquent property owner comes into full compliance with any outstanding code violations.
Property owners would have to come into compliance before applying for the amnesty. If approved for the program, they would be on the hook for the remaining 10% of the lien amount up to $1,000, plus a $250 administration fee, within 30 days.
Seminole’s program follows the lead of other Florida govern
ments with code-enforcement amnesty programs including St. Lucie, Leon and Okeechobee counties and Sanford, Sunrise and Lake Wales.
Seminole County officials have long said that property owners who’ve racked up astronomical code-enforcement liens after years of neglecting Seminole’s rules and regulations currently have little incentive or desire to make it right. And their neighbors end up having to live next door to an eyesore.
Under Seminole’s code-enforcement process, a complaint first must be filed with the county before an officer or sheriff’s official investigates. This means county officials don’t actively look for violations.
After an officer investigates the complaint within two days, a verbal notice is issued about a week later. If the violation hasn’t been corrected by 30 days, the property owner then would receive a final notice within two weeks. Seminole’s code-enforcement board or special magistrate schedules a hearing and issues a lien on the property.
When a lien is placed on a property, the owner can’t sell, refinance or transfer title of their home without first paying off the lien amount. By state law, the county can’t take possession of a homesteaded house with codeenforcement liens and toss out the residents.
The lien amount continues to swell daily until the property has been brought into compliance with county codes. Some Seminole properties have liens that have ballooned into hundreds of thousands of dollars and more.
As of Aug. 1, about 200 Seminole property owners had outstanding code-enforcement liens.
For example, a mobile home on Manor Avenue near Altamonte Springs has accrued more than $904,000 in code enforcement liens dating to 2007 for unpermitted construction, according to county records.
The assessed value of the home and land is roughly $20,000, according to the Seminole Property Appraiser’s Office. Neither of the listed owners, Michael and Cynthia Casey, as well as Davis and the listed homeowner for the property on Champion Avenue, could be reached for comment.
When property owners have such high lien amounts, there’s not much to urge them to correct the problem because they figure they’ll never move, county officials said. Also, according to the county’s policy, code-enforcement liens are dissolved — or “written off ” the books — after 20 years.
“At least this provides people with an opportunity to come into compliance,” Rebecca Hammock, Seminole’s development services director, said of the proposed amnesty program.
Zembower added that some property owners may not have the ability to come into compliance because of financial or physical hardships.
In those cases, Zembower suggested county officials work with faith-based groups or charitable organizations to “get the property cleaned up.”
As part of revamping the county’s code-enforcement process, Seminole officials also are considering a lot-cleaning program in which the county would hire a contractor to clean the property and then bill the property owner. If the fine isn’t paid, it would then be tacked onto the property tax bill.
Still, Zembower acknowledged that many property owners with liens cleaned up their yards and have come into compliance years ago, but “no one has ever told them that there’s still a lien on their properties.”
If the amnesty program is approved, county officials will mail notices to property owners with liens informing them of the opportunity to wipe the slate clean.
“This [amnesty program] is really just a first step,” Zembower said. “But it gives us an ability to open a conversation with the property owner and see what the issues really are.”