What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida, Okeechobee County
I have a commercial property I bought in 1997 and it had a 3000 sq ft building on it, I had planned to keep the property and use the rents for my retirement.
In 2005 hurricane Wilma knocked parts of a billboard sign onto the roof and did some damage to it. The insurance company said they did not cover acts of god, but after 2 years of arguing with the sign company they decided to give me 30000 dollars to make the repairs.
At the same time as I was waiting to get the check from the sign company I got a notice from code enforcement that said they wanted me to tear the building down.
I contacted them and told them what was going on and told them I had settled my case with the sign company and I was just waiting on the check so I could make the repairs.
The code enforcement officer told me that they did not want me to repair the building they want me to tear it down. I explained that the building was constructed out of concrete block, it was built like a tank and very strong and it just needs a roof and I got conformation from several contractors of that fact along with estimates to make the repairs. I already had those in hand from my argument or I guess you would call it litigation with the sign company.
Of course I did not agree with them about the demolition so I requested a hearing before the board so I could argue my case. they finally set a hearing for August 21, 2007 and the magistrate ordered me to get an engineer to draw up plans to make the repairs.
I paid an engineer to come and inspect the building and give his opinion and he said the same thing I and the contractors I got estimates from said that it was built like a tank and just needed a roof. I physically took the engineer to the code enforcement office and he told the code enforcement the same thing ( "It just needs a roof and it was built like a tank") and that it would only take him a couple weeks to draw up the plans. I also told them that I got the money from the sign company to pay for the repairs and make the building like brand new.
Their response was "No we don't want it repaired we want it gone." I reminded them what the Magistrate said and she repeated " No we don't want it repaired we want it gone." and the engineer said ok I guess there is nothing I can do and he said, "that's messed up they got it in for you". He charged me for half of his fee for the inspection and left.
The next hearing was set for September 18th 2007. At the hearing I tried to explain to the Magistrate what the engineer said about the building just needed a roof and told him it would take about 60 days to complete it and the code enforcement officer jumped up and said " that's hearsay the Magistrate ordered me to tare the building down or pay a fine of 250.00 dollars a day.
So I figured there was nothing I could do and I sure did not want to pay a 250 dollar a day fine so the code enforcement officer gave me the name of a demolition contractor because I did not know of one that could tare it down and I had a contract with him the same day of the hearing and we went down to the building department and a demolition permit was issued on the 19th of September the next day. And I ask the code enforcement officer if there was anything else I needed to do to be in compliance and she said no, that's it.
This property is located about 2 hours away from where I live so there was a pickup truck I left on the property so when my son and I went there we could ride over together and he would have a way to get around to his friends and I could do what ever I wanted to do in my truck.
In January 2008 I got a call from the same code enforcement officer and she said that I was not allowed to park the truck on the property and I was not allowed to do anything with the property because the county has a lien on the property for 37,000 dollars.
I have never received a notice about the lien being placed on my property.
I ask her why would there be a lien on my property I did exactly what the Magistrate ordered and she said because you have a vehicle sitting on the property I keep the lien running and it amounts to 37,000 dollars. The truck was fully licensed and insured and I ask the sheriff department if there was any regulation or ordinance that would prevent me from parking it there and they said no but I immediately went over there and brought it home anyway.
Last year I rented the property to a lady that operates a mobile food trailer I did go to the building department and ask if it was ok to do that since they would not let me do anything else. She was there for 9 months and she was having problems with her generator that runs the power for her trailer and it was really a lot of trouble to have to use a generator I told her that I would see about getting electric power hooked on the property so she could plug up instead of using the generator and they said no because "as long as I have the lien on the property I was not allowed to do anything with the property but cut the grass and pay the taxes." So the little bit of income I was able to get from the property is gone now.
The code enforcement officer said I could have what is called a lien reduction hearing so I set it up and we had it November 15, 2016 last month. I brought the registration of the vehicle that was sitting on the property for the time she said it was sitting to prove that it was legal and she said the truck didn't have anything to do with it so she just told me an outright lie.
They said The lien was 250 per day dollars for the time I got the permit until the time the code enforcement officer decided to inspect the property to see if it was in compliance 37,000 dollars. The Magistrate said I clearly did not understand what they done and she wants to talk to the contractor and find out exactly when he finished the job and I think she is planning on charging me 250 per day for that time. I don't know the exact date he finished I am going to try to find out but I know that it took more than 2 months because he had to get FPL to unhook the power and get asbestos inspection before he could tare it down. He said that it may take a while because there are only a few of those Asbestos inspectors in the state that worked this area and it may take a while to get them to do it. I found out that FPL did not get over there to disconnect the power on November 14th 2007 I don't know about the asbestos inspector.
So this is where I stand at this point. I don't think it's legal for them to tell me I can't use the property because of the lien but I'm not sure. I can't sell the property because of the lien and they won't let me do anything with it.
I have lost over 200,000 dollars in rents I should have received on the property over the last 9 years plus the cost of the demolition of the building and of course the cost of the building at least 100,000 I'm thinking I have lost over 300,000 dollars. Oh yea plus the 37,000 they want for the fine.
I feel they have took the property that I bought and paid for without due process.
I have a commercial property I bought in 1997 and it had a 3000 sq ft building on it, I had planned to keep the property and use the rents for my retirement.
In 2005 hurricane Wilma knocked parts of a billboard sign onto the roof and did some damage to it. The insurance company said they did not cover acts of god, but after 2 years of arguing with the sign company they decided to give me 30000 dollars to make the repairs.
At the same time as I was waiting to get the check from the sign company I got a notice from code enforcement that said they wanted me to tear the building down.
I contacted them and told them what was going on and told them I had settled my case with the sign company and I was just waiting on the check so I could make the repairs.
The code enforcement officer told me that they did not want me to repair the building they want me to tear it down. I explained that the building was constructed out of concrete block, it was built like a tank and very strong and it just needs a roof and I got conformation from several contractors of that fact along with estimates to make the repairs. I already had those in hand from my argument or I guess you would call it litigation with the sign company.
Of course I did not agree with them about the demolition so I requested a hearing before the board so I could argue my case. they finally set a hearing for August 21, 2007 and the magistrate ordered me to get an engineer to draw up plans to make the repairs.
I paid an engineer to come and inspect the building and give his opinion and he said the same thing I and the contractors I got estimates from said that it was built like a tank and just needed a roof. I physically took the engineer to the code enforcement office and he told the code enforcement the same thing ( "It just needs a roof and it was built like a tank") and that it would only take him a couple weeks to draw up the plans. I also told them that I got the money from the sign company to pay for the repairs and make the building like brand new.
Their response was "No we don't want it repaired we want it gone." I reminded them what the Magistrate said and she repeated " No we don't want it repaired we want it gone." and the engineer said ok I guess there is nothing I can do and he said, "that's messed up they got it in for you". He charged me for half of his fee for the inspection and left.
The next hearing was set for September 18th 2007. At the hearing I tried to explain to the Magistrate what the engineer said about the building just needed a roof and told him it would take about 60 days to complete it and the code enforcement officer jumped up and said " that's hearsay the Magistrate ordered me to tare the building down or pay a fine of 250.00 dollars a day.
So I figured there was nothing I could do and I sure did not want to pay a 250 dollar a day fine so the code enforcement officer gave me the name of a demolition contractor because I did not know of one that could tare it down and I had a contract with him the same day of the hearing and we went down to the building department and a demolition permit was issued on the 19th of September the next day. And I ask the code enforcement officer if there was anything else I needed to do to be in compliance and she said no, that's it.
This property is located about 2 hours away from where I live so there was a pickup truck I left on the property so when my son and I went there we could ride over together and he would have a way to get around to his friends and I could do what ever I wanted to do in my truck.
In January 2008 I got a call from the same code enforcement officer and she said that I was not allowed to park the truck on the property and I was not allowed to do anything with the property because the county has a lien on the property for 37,000 dollars.
I have never received a notice about the lien being placed on my property.
I ask her why would there be a lien on my property I did exactly what the Magistrate ordered and she said because you have a vehicle sitting on the property I keep the lien running and it amounts to 37,000 dollars. The truck was fully licensed and insured and I ask the sheriff department if there was any regulation or ordinance that would prevent me from parking it there and they said no but I immediately went over there and brought it home anyway.
Last year I rented the property to a lady that operates a mobile food trailer I did go to the building department and ask if it was ok to do that since they would not let me do anything else. She was there for 9 months and she was having problems with her generator that runs the power for her trailer and it was really a lot of trouble to have to use a generator I told her that I would see about getting electric power hooked on the property so she could plug up instead of using the generator and they said no because "as long as I have the lien on the property I was not allowed to do anything with the property but cut the grass and pay the taxes." So the little bit of income I was able to get from the property is gone now.
The code enforcement officer said I could have what is called a lien reduction hearing so I set it up and we had it November 15, 2016 last month. I brought the registration of the vehicle that was sitting on the property for the time she said it was sitting to prove that it was legal and she said the truck didn't have anything to do with it so she just told me an outright lie.
They said The lien was 250 per day dollars for the time I got the permit until the time the code enforcement officer decided to inspect the property to see if it was in compliance 37,000 dollars. The Magistrate said I clearly did not understand what they done and she wants to talk to the contractor and find out exactly when he finished the job and I think she is planning on charging me 250 per day for that time. I don't know the exact date he finished I am going to try to find out but I know that it took more than 2 months because he had to get FPL to unhook the power and get asbestos inspection before he could tare it down. He said that it may take a while because there are only a few of those Asbestos inspectors in the state that worked this area and it may take a while to get them to do it. I found out that FPL did not get over there to disconnect the power on November 14th 2007 I don't know about the asbestos inspector.
So this is where I stand at this point. I don't think it's legal for them to tell me I can't use the property because of the lien but I'm not sure. I can't sell the property because of the lien and they won't let me do anything with it.
I have lost over 200,000 dollars in rents I should have received on the property over the last 9 years plus the cost of the demolition of the building and of course the cost of the building at least 100,000 I'm thinking I have lost over 300,000 dollars. Oh yea plus the 37,000 they want for the fine.
I feel they have took the property that I bought and paid for without due process.
