Sell a Pompano Beach, FL house with code violations: the Special Magistrate, Chapter 162 fines and liens, the 162.06(5) disclosure and 5-day notice at transfer, and how a cash sale takes over the case. Written offer within 24 hours of the visit.
The City of Pompano Beach's Code Compliance division takes complaints at 954-786-4361 and sends an inspector, and the matter may be as small as a notice about grass, a boat in the driveway or a fence. The cases that do not end there belong to houses whose owners cannot afford the fix: a roof tarp left from the last storm on a 1970s block home in Cresthaven, an enclosed carport built without a permit, a vacant house in an estate that nobody has secured, a lot the city eventually cleared itself. Unresolved, those cases go before the city's Special Magistrate, a licensed attorney appointed by the City Commission, who sits on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month and can impose fines that become a lien in the Broward County records.
Pompano Beach Cash Buyers buys houses with open code cases, magistrate orders and recorded code liens. Under Florida law the case follows the property, so we take responsibility for bringing it into compliance after closing, and the fine is paid, or reduced where the city agrees, as part of the sale. You do not have to make the repair, pull the permit or attend another hearing. This page explains how the city's process runs, what the fines and liens can be, and exactly what the law requires of a seller with a pending case.
From the notice of violation to the Special Magistrate
Under Chapter 162 of the Florida Statutes a code inspector issues a notice of violation with a time to correct. If the deadline passes, the case is set before the Special Magistrate, Pompano Beach's substitute for a code enforcement board, on a second or fourth Wednesday. The magistrate hears the inspector and the owner, and decides whether the violation exists. If the inspector's finding is affirmed, the order sets a compliance date and fines may be imposed for each day the violation continues past it.
The hearing is the point where a cost problem becomes a legal one. An owner who already could not afford the repair now faces a daily fine on top of it, which is why so many of these cases end with the house being sold rather than fixed.
What the fines can be, and how they become a lien
The state framework in Fla. Stat. 162.09 caps fines at $250 per day for a first violation and $500 per day for a repeat violation. For cities of 50,000 or more, and Pompano Beach counted 112,046 residents in the 2020 Census, the statute allows up to $1,000 per day for a first violation, $5,000 per day for a repeat, and up to $15,000 for an irreparable violation. The city's own ordinance sets the actual figures.
Any fines or penalties may be recorded as a lien against all real property of the violator, not only the house with the violation. A recorded order is not a super-priority over a first mortgage, but it is a lien the title company must clear, and the city's own guide says unpaid liens can lead to foreclosure or a money judgment.
Selling with an open case: the ยง162.06(5) disclosure and the 5-day notice
Florida law does not stop you from selling a house with a pending code case, but it sets three duties. Under Fla. Stat. 162.06(5) the seller must disclose the case to the buyer in writing, give the buyer a copy of every notice the city issued, and notify the code enforcement officer of the transfer within 5 days of closing. The case then follows the property to the new owner.
In a sale to Pompano Beach Cash Buyers, those steps are built into the contract. You hand us the notices, the disclosure is part of the paperwork, and the title company sends the transfer notice to the city inside the 5-day window. From that point the compliance date, the permits and the next hearing on a Wednesday in Pompano Beach are our obligations, not yours.
The violations a 1974 housing stock produces
Pompano Beach's median home was built in 1974, and the city's code cases follow from that. Roofs tarped after a storm and never replaced; Hurricane Wilma stripped roofs across the city in 2005 and Irma hit Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach hardest in Broward in 2017. Florida rooms, enclosed garages and sheds built over decades without permits. Vacant inherited homes in Kendall Green with broken windows. Overgrown lots in Collier City that the city mows and bills.
For a financed buyer each of these is a problem, because the appraiser and the insurer flag it and the lender will not close until it is permitted or fixed. For us each is a known cost. We price the after-the-fact permit, the roof or the demolition into the written offer and handle it with the city's building division after closing.
How the sale handles the fine and the lien
After contract, the title company identifies every recorded code and abatement lien in the Broward County official records and gets the payoff from the city. Where fines have accrued, we can ask the city to reduce them on the basis that the incoming owner will perform the compliance work; the outcome is the city's decision, and the agreed amount is paid at closing from the purchase price. Your net is the price minus any mortgage payoff minus the liens, and we pay the customary closing costs.
After closing we pull the permits, complete the repair or removal, and request the compliance inspection that stops the fine. You are released from the property and from the case at the same moment the deed records.
What to do this week
Gather the notices you have from Code Compliance, including the case number and any magistrate order with its compliance date. If a hearing is scheduled, note the Wednesday. Do not spend money on a partial repair before talking to us; a half-finished fix may not satisfy the inspector and does not change our offer much.
We look at the property within a day or two, check the case status with the city, and give you a written offer within 24 hours of the visit that accounts for the compliance work and the lien. Closing can happen in about a week once the lien payoff is confirmed, or later if you need time. There is no commission. A house in Sanders Park with a demolition order moves fastest of all; tell us about that first.
Selling to us vs. a traditional listing in Pompano Beach, FL
| Comparison | Traditional agent | For sale by owner | Pompano Beach Cash Buyers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash offer | Rarely | Rarely | Yes |
| Sell as-is | Repairs expected | Repairs expected | Yes |
| Time to a contract | roughly two to three months (Houzeo Sep 2026: 91 days median; Momentum: 66 days median for closed sales; Zillow Feb 2026: about 85 days to pending) in Pompano Beach now | Often longer | 24 hours after the visit |
| Agent commission | About 6% | Buyer's agent usually paid | None |
| Closing costs | Paid by seller | Paid by seller | Customary costs paid by us |
| Showings | Yes | Yes | One visit |
| Financing fall-through | Possible | Possible | None, we fund it |
| Price cut after inspection | Common | Common | No inspection period |
| Closing date | Lender's schedule | Buyer's schedule | Yours |
We buy houses in Pompano Beach for any reason, any condition, or any challenge
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