City Council exploring new process for foreclosing on non-compliant properties with long overdue fines

Do you know how many properties in Apopka are out of compliance? Do you know how many owe unpaid fines? Commissioner Nick Nesta brought up this subject at the April 17th Apopka City Council meeting and suggested changing the process during City Commission Reports.

"I think formalizing some type of policy that says once a residential property hits a million dollars in fines, and as long as it's not a homesteaded property... if it doesn't have any other liens or clouded title, then we start the foreclosure process," Nesta said. "And everything else will start at $1.5 million."

If that were the current process, nine properties (owing over $1 million in unpaid fines) could potentially be in foreclosure proceedings.

"I think it gives teeth to not only our department, but because the whole goal is not to gain properties or to gain money from fines... it's to get everyone in compliance," Nesta said. "That's our whole goal that benefits the community in its entirety. So it's not a land grab. But I think that helps to formalize it."

Apopka Police Chief Michael McKinley responded to Nesta and explained the way collection and compliance currently operates.

"We do have a process," McKinley said. "A lot of times, it's 'what are the violations?'... some of our public safety issues that we do need to proceed with the attorney (foreclosure) and move on. Some of them aren't necessarily a risk to the community for public safety or anything else. And those may be put off to the side."

McKinley also explained that each property that goes into foreclosure costs the City filing and attorney fees. City Attorney Cliff Shepard told The Apopka Voice those fees could range anywhere from $2,000 to "six figures" if the property owner contests the foreclosure.

However, Nesta believes that the best way to bring those who are egregiously out of compliance into compliance is to use the foreclosure process.

"If we're not willing to go to the worst-case scenario, and people know that we're not, they're gonna take advantage of us," Nesta said. "And they have... there's many residents that have. What happens a lot is it's investment firms and companies that don't live here that don't have a stake in our community other than rental homes, or an old building that they may own. If we're not going to initiate something or be able to look back and say, as commissioners and as the City, be able to say, look, now we have a policy in place that once this hits, we're not targeting anyone, we're moving forward, it has nothing to do with your political affiliation, who your friends are, and the amount of money you have, once you hit this, we're moving forward. It's a policy."

According to a public records request, 160 properties are currently in non-compliance, 72 are in compliance and still owe unpaid fines, and the total fines are $48,412,408. However, Lt. Stephan Brick, the head of code enforcement for the APD, points out that those fines will be settled for substantially less.

Shepard, however, agrees with Nesta about using foreclosures as a tool to bring others into compliance.

"So, in my prior legal life, before I started representing cities and governments, I did HOA foreclosure work," he said. "The policy that we use in order to ensure higher collection rates is we pick the worst, which is essentially what the Chief (McKinley) was trying to do. And we went after them hard. And once we successfully took the property away from them, or a judgment, they had to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees, etc., etc., in order to hang on to their homes or their cars or whatever else we might be taking. Then, we would publicize it. This is what happens when you do not pay attention to your fines, your assessments, your deed restrictions, or whatever it might be. So it's kind of the theory that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The best education is by beating the crap out of people and then telling them that you've done that and they're coming for you coming to the next, then they get on the compliance train. Here's a copy of the judgment we just obtained from so and so in these three foreclosures, this is what's going to happen next. Or you can come into compliance, that would be my suggestion."

Currently, Shepard's office is working on eight foreclosures for the City, ranging from  $142,500-$4,279,000.