Time-sensitive
Daily fines adding up in Jacksonville, FL
You have a code case and the fines are running by the day. That usually means a board or special magistrate has issued an order with a compliance date, and a fine can be set for each day the violation continues past that date. Read the notice or the order first, start to finish. Note the compliance date and any hearing date printed on it. Then contact the code office named on the notice and tell them work is under way — that is a sensible first step, and that office is the only one that can answer questions about your case. Because the fine is tied to days, the day the property is actually brought into compliance matters. Never assume a fine has stopped until the code office confirms compliance.
Call us or send your notice details · free estimate
Jacksonville is an incorporated municipality, so code enforcement here is normally run by the municipality itself, though some local governments contract it out. The notice names the office handling your case. Across Florida, code enforcement is handled locally under Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, which lets cities and counties use either a code enforcement board or a special magistrate. The process generally starts with a notice of violation that identifies the problem and gives the owner a reasonable time to correct it. If it is not corrected, the case is set for a hearing, and the board or magistrate issues an order with a compliance date. A certified copy of an order imposing a fine can be recorded in the public records, where it becomes a lien on the property. The exact steps, deadlines and amounts vary by city and county and are stated on your notice, so confirm them with the code office named there.
While your case is open, don't
- Do not let the dates pass unnoticed. The compliance date and any hearing date are printed on the notice or the order, and the code office named there is who you call about them.
- Do not start permit work before the permit is issued. Most construction, alteration and repair work needs a permit under section 105.1 of the Florida Building Code, and starting first can turn one problem into two.
- Do not tear out finished work on your own. After-the-fact permitting can require drawings, inspections and opening up finished surfaces, so wait until the building department says what it needs to see.
- Do not assume the clock has stopped. Only the code office named on your notice can confirm that the property complies, and what happens to a fine or lien is decided by that office, the board or the magistrate.
- Do not climb the roof or shore a structure yourself. Keep people, children above all, away from any unsafe structure, damaged roof or open pool, and leave structural and roof repairs to a contractor.
What we do
- We read the notice with youWe go through the notice or the order and the violation as it is written, so the work is scoped against what was actually cited. We also look at the property.
- Free estimate, price in writingWe tell you what work the violation needs and agree the price in writing before any work starts. No work begins before you have that.
- Permits pulled where the work requires themWe pull the permit under our Florida Certified Building Contractor licence CBC1267336, after-the-fact permits included. Electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning work is done by our Florida-licensed subcontractors, who pull that trade's permit.
- The work itselfWe do the repair, clean-up or construction work the cited violation calls for on a Jacksonville property, whether that is a historic wood-frame house or a newer block and stucco home.
- Inspections and close-outWe schedule the inspections and work to get the permit closed out. An open or expired permit stays on the property record until it is properly closed out.
- Paperwork for the code officeYou get the paperwork to show the code office named on your notice, so that office can confirm the property complies.
Work by 360 Home Improvements, Florida Certified Building Contractor CBC1267336. Electrical, plumbing and AC work goes to our Florida-licensed subcontractors, who pull that trade's permit.
How it works in Jacksonville
Jacksonville sits on the Atlantic coast and the tidal St. Johns River, and salt-laden air corrodes garage door tracks and rollers, gate operators and exterior hardware well inland. Humidity is high year round, summers are long and hot with near-daily afternoon thunderstorms, and northeast Florida sees several freezes and the occasional hard freeze each winter, which can crack outdoor plumbing. Conditions like these let a small maintenance problem become a cited one, and Florida's long, wet growing season lets yards and vacant lots overgrow quickly, so maintenance complaints are common year round. The compliance deadline on a notice still applies as written.
Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. Storm damage left unrepaired — roofs still under tarps, downed fences, scattered debris — is a common source of code enforcement notices afterward in Jacksonville. The housing stock here runs from early-1900s wood-frame and brick homes in Riverside, Avondale and Springfield to mid-century concrete-block ranches and a large share of 1990s-and-newer stucco and block subdivisions on the Southside, the Northside and around Bartram Park, so two Jacksonville properties cited for the same thing can need very different work. We are licensed statewide under a Florida certification that is valid in every Florida county, and we work across Jacksonville and nearby towns such as Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Orange Park and Ponte Vedra Beach.
Questions people ask
- Will fixing the property stop the daily fine?
- That is not ours to say. A board or special magistrate can set a fine for each day a violation continues after the compliance date, and only the code office named on your notice can confirm that the property complies. Ask that office what the status of your case is.
- Who handles code enforcement in Jacksonville?
- Jacksonville is an incorporated municipality, so code enforcement is normally run by the municipality itself, though some local governments contract it out. The office handling your case is named on the notice. Call that office with questions about deadlines, hearings, fines or liens.
- The work was already done without a permit. What now?
- Work already done without a permit generally has to be permitted after the fact, which can involve drawings, inspections and opening up finished surfaces so the work can be inspected. We pull after-the-fact permits under our licence and schedule the inspections. The building department with jurisdiction over the property decides what it needs.
- A fine has already been recorded as a lien. Can you deal with that?
- No. We are a contractor, not a law firm — we do not represent owners at hearings and we do not negotiate fines or liens. Fines, liens, hearings and appeals are decided by the code enforcement board, special magistrate or local government named on the notice, and legal questions go to a Florida attorney.
- My violation came from storm damage. Is that common here?
- Yes. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and in Jacksonville roofs still under tarps, downed fences and scattered debris are a common source of notices afterward. Keep people away from any damaged roof or unsafe structure and do not attempt those repairs yourself.
- How much will the work cost?
- It depends on the violation cited, the condition and age of the property, whether a permit and inspections are needed, and which trades are involved. The estimate is free. We tell you what the work involves and agree the price in writing before work starts.
This page is general information about Florida code enforcement, not legal advice. For questions about your own case (deadlines, hearing dates, fines or liens), contact the code enforcement office named on your notice, or a Florida attorney.
Send us the notice
The estimate is free: we read the notice with you, look at the property and agree the price in writing before any work starts — call (954) 906-7864 or send a request through the form on this website. Questions about the case itself, including the compliance date, the hearing date, fines and liens, go to the code enforcement office named on your notice.
Request a free estimate
Tell us what the notice says and where the property is. We'll look at what the violation needs and agree the price with you before any work starts.
Other violations in Jacksonville
Code Violation Solver is run by 360 Home Improvements, a licensed Florida contractor. We fix the condition behind the violation; the code office named on your notice decides the case.