Most Common Code Violations in Palm Beach County

With 689,908 housing units on record (as of July 1st, 2018), Palm Beach County has their hands full when it comes to making sure each property maintains a certain standard. Their mission statement is “to promote and protect the health, safety, welfare, and quality of life for residents, businesses and tourists of Palm Beach County.” 

According to Palm Beach County, the Code Enforcement Division handles complaints and monitors residential and commercial districts for violations of zoning, maintenance standards, overgrowth, unpermitted and illegal construction, sign regulations, and use regulations. 

Here is a list of some of the most common Code Violations:

• Property Maintenance. This addresses the standard for interior and exterior condition of housing structures. The standard applies to hot and cold water supply, lighting, ventilation, properly installed electrical outlets, safety requirements, unsafe structures, and broken windows. This link will bring you to the official property maintenance code, Chapter 14.

• Building without a permit. This is a common issue because many residents think that because you own your home and the land that you are free to do what you want with it. You must acquire a permit when installing fences, sheds, satellite dishes. You also need to get a permit when putting a new roof on the house, making room additions, or any other structures that may include gas, electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems. You also need a permit to demolish or move any part of the existing structure.

• Overgrown Lots. The counties ordinance does not allow accumulation of plant life greater than 18 inches in height within 25 feet of developed property. This also applies to general trash, waste, rubble, and debris.

• Broken down vehicles. This can be a tricky violation. Junk cars, or inoperable vehicles, may not be kept on residential property. All cars in plain view must have license plates. You may have one vehicle that does not have a license plate but it must be stored in the side or rear yard, not in plain view. Code enforcement has the right to tag these junk cars that are on private property and have them towed from the premises. 

• RVs/Campers and boats. Any RV or boat must be stored in the side or rear yard areas, screened from surrounding property along with nontransparent wall, fence, or a minimum of a six foot hedge. One commercial vehicle may be parked on the residential property if it is registered and licensed, used by the respective resident, doesn’t weigh more than 12,500 pounds, and it is not bigger than 9 feet tall and 26 feet wide.

Have you gotten a violation from your town’s code enforcement department? Are you contemplating whether to handle this yourself or to sell the property and forget about the headache? Here at FL Home Buyers, we buy houses cash and we close quickly. We have a streamlined process and we are able to close on property that has open code violations and permit issues. Give us a call today to see if we could help guide you in the right direction.