A permitting mistake made by previous homeowners may cost a Florida woman her home. The Little Havana homeowner has reached out to CBS News for help after she says she was hit with a $55,650 code enforcement lien. Only her attorney says that she should’ve never been hit with the fines in the first place.
Instead, it sounds like the people she purchased the property from may have violated the City of Miami’s codes, prompting inspectors to get involved.
And while the homeowner admits to having made a mistake by hiring contractors to help repair her roof without a permit, she doesn’t think that she should be punished for mistakes that the previous owners made when they made updates to the property.
Here’s what her attorney has to say.
A Florida Woman Faces Foreclosure Over Code Enforcement Lien
A Little Havana homeowner and her attorney argue the City of Miami fined her for code violations tied to work completed before she bought the home. https://t.co/EUmaM7ISo2
— CBS Miami (@CBSMiami) July 14, 2026
Angelica Martinez shared her story with CBS News after code inspectors from the City of Miami came by her house in 2024. They stopped after noticing a crew working on a few things around Martinez’s house, including pouring a driveway, building a fence, and performing roof work, all without a permit.
This resulted in the code enforcement lien, which Martinez says she shouldn’t be responsible for since she wasn’t the one who had the fence and driveway work done. Instead, she says that the fence and driveway were both completed in 2018, when the previous owners had work done before listing the property for sale.
“It’s just a mistake—a very expensive mistake they’re making me pay for,” Martinez told the publication, adding that she hired an attorney to check the title to make sure there weren’t any liens on the property before she bought the house.
“Zero violations existed,” she recalled of the purchase process. “My attorneys reviewed the whole history of the house. There was no issue whatsoever.”
Homeowners Can Be Held Responsible for Work Done by Previous Owners
Martinez contacted a lawyer about the violations, and they spoke with CBS News about the story, confirming that homeowners can be held liable for code violations, even if they were originally made by the previous owners. However, the City of Miami alleges that this isn’t exactly what happened with Martinez’s story.
The Code Enforcement Department released a statement to the local news station, telling them that Martinez was given 120 days to comply with the violation notice before she would be assessed a fine of $150-per-day. The statement alleges that she failed to bring the property into compliance, nor did she request additional time for the work to be done, resulting in the massive lien.
As a result, Martinez and her lawyer say that she is stuck in the house, unable to make additional repairs or sell the property until the lien is removed. While she will have another chance to take her case before the courts, she has a hearing scheduled for Sept. 22 there’s no way of knowing whether she will get good news or not.
While this story may be terrifying for anyone who has purchased a home, it serves as a good reminder of how important it is to undergo a title inspection before you buy a property and to check with the local zoning offices to see if any permits have been pulled by the previous owners. Otherwise, you may find yourself with an unwanted and expensive surprise down the line.