When The Same Rules Don't Apply To Government
One Florida man, J. Ficken, from Dunedin was previously fined $30,000 over uncut grass on his property. Because of the fees from the city that he was expected to pay, he was at risk of losing his home as a result.
Over some uncut grass on his own property.
Now, residents in the same region are wondering if those rules apply to the government.
That's because the mayor of Dunedin is now facing criticism over the quality of her own property.
"I think the mayor's situation really highlights how easy it is for basically anybody to run afoul of Dunedin's very extensive code enforcement ordinances,... You could probably find something wrong with almost everybody's house in Dunedin. That's how petty some of these violations are." - IJ attorney A. Bargil
Based on the findings of an investigation team that looked into a tip about the mayor's property, it allegedly appears that not everyone in the region is being held to the same standards.
However, both the mayor and the city manager have insisted that no one is getting special treatment; they had allegedly been doing work on the property. As well, there aren't any records of code violations with the city, no complaints either, just the tip that brought the team to discover what they believed to be in violation of current city code rules.
In another situation in Dunedin, one woman was fined over $100k for alleged code violations on her house property that she no longer owned. It's alleged that the woman, K. Allen, moved out of the home in question after she signed a foreclosure agreement with the bank. Following her exit from the property, 3 years later, a city code inspector had allegedly visited the property and found undesirable conditions in violation of the rules.
The city sued to try and get their money, but they eventually dropped their lawsuit against the woman, after facing plenty of scrutiny over their fines.
It's continued to fuel a discussion about the abuse of these city code violations, and even prompted local officials to evaluate their process.
The stories of these two victims have helped to expose the arguably corrupt schemes that involve abusive code enforcement coupled with outrageously excessive fines.
Those who have already launched lawsuits over this matter have argued that this sort of abuse of code enforcement is unconstitutional.
For now, the case with Ficken is still ongoing.
Pics:
pixabay
Alot of the wholesalers that bring me off market real estate deal are properties with existing code violations. They key to making it a deal is being able to negotiate with the city on a "settlement" price.
It's crazy though, $150k for landscaping fines on one property I was looking at. I have seen code violations over 1 million on properties. Comical almost.