Florida Code Enforcement Cases and Municipal Liens by County (2026)
A code case begins with a notice, becomes a daily fine at the magistrate hearing, and ends as a recorded lien that can exceed the value of the house. Owners who let a case run that far are absent, broke or both. This report counts the code enforcement cases and construction violations DLRadar has indexed from Florida county and municipal records.
- 36,851 code enforcement cases across 5 publishing counties, 9,666 opened in the last twelve months.
- 24,539 construction violations indexed from building departments.
- 18,503 parcels carry the CE flag in the pool.
- Miami-Dade County publishes the most cases at 23,910; newest case October 16, 2026.
CE-signal: the CE signal figures as of 2026-10-20; Florida county and municipal code enforcement case indexes read by DLRadar.
| County | Cases | Opened last 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade County | 23,910 | 5,256 |
| Orange County | 5,928 | 1,577 |
| Hillsborough County | 3,061 | 0 |
| Polk County | 2,519 | 2,519 |
| Lee County | 1,433 | 314 |
Code enforcement cases by publishing county.
Publishing counties
Miami-Dade County 23,910 (5,256 new); Orange County 5,928 (1,577 new); Hillsborough County 3,061 (0 new); Polk County 2,519 (2,519 new); Lee County 1,433 (314 new).
Which records are counted
Code enforcement cases come from county and city case indexes that publish the parcel; construction violations are the building-department subset. The CE flag is set when an open case or a recorded code lien names the parcel. Closed and complied cases are kept for history but do not flag.
Coverage is uneven
Only a minority of Florida jurisdictions publish a searchable code case index, which is why the county count is small while the case count is large. Coverage grows as each jurisdiction's feed passes DLRadar's census; the coverage page lists the live ones.
Work the CE signal
Code-violation parcels are on the hub by county, and the distress-stack list combines them with liens and tax status on the same parcel.
CE parcels update as the records refresh.
Florida Code Enforcement Cases and Municipal Liens by County (2026): questions
Can a code lien be foreclosed?
Yes. After three months a local government may foreclose a recorded code lien on non-homestead property.
Do fines keep running after a sale?
The lien stays with the parcel. Most jurisdictions will negotiate a reduction once the violation is cured by the new owner.
Why is my city missing?
Its case index is not yet published in a form DLRadar can read, or it has not passed the data census. The coverage page tracks both.
More on the CE signal
Florida Code Enforcement Cases and Municipal Liens by County (2026) (CE-signal) is fed by Florida county and municipal code enforcement case indexes read by DLRadar and is not legal advice. Nothing in the CE signal is tax or investment advice; verify every CE-signal record with the issuing office before acting.