If you own rentals you may have received at some point a ticket from your city about high weeds or grass. More often than not, the tenant that was supposed to mow the lawn failed to do so, but since you’re the property owner you get the ticket. That being said, Realtor.com is reporting that a Florida retiree has racked up nearly $30k in fines for not keeping his home’s lawn under 10 inches. The fines, going back to 2007, have also been compounded by a $500/day penalty! He was classified as a repeat offender (and wasn’t given any time to correct the offense by mowing his grass) and now the city has begun foreclosure proceedings on his home, which by the way is worth about $142,800.
“A $30,000 fine and the loss of your home is not proportional to the offense of having tall grass,” says Ficken’s attorney, Ari Bargil. His nonprofit law firm, the Institute for Justice, agreed to take on the case at no cost to Ficken.
Click here to read the full story on Realtor.com.
