A Palm Coast and Flagler County Homeowner Question

Can I sell my house with a code violation
or an open permit?

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Seller questions › Selling with a code violation or open permit
Yes.

A letter from code enforcement, a fine that keeps growing, an old permit nobody closed. It feels like the house is stuck. Usually it isn’t. What matters is which problem you actually have, what has to happen before closing, and who pays for it. Here’s how it works in Palm Coast and Flagler County. It can usually be fixed, reduced, or sold with the problem disclosed.

The short version

Find out which one you have.
An open permit, a failed inspection, an open violation and a recorded lien are four different problems with four different fixes.
Fines can grow every day.
Florida lets a code board fine up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat. A recorded fine becomes a lien on the house.
Your homestead is protected.
The city can’t foreclose on the house you live in over a code lien. The lien still has to be dealt with when you sell.
Fines can be reduced.
Palm Coast has a written process for asking, and fixing the violation first is what the board looks at.
Selling during an open case is allowed.
Florida law asks you to tell the buyer in writing first, and to notify the city within 5 days after closing.

Which one do you actually have?

These four get mixed together. They aren’t the same thing, and the fix depends on which one it is.

An open or expired permit. Work was permitted but never passed its final inspection. In Palm Coast a permit stays active for six months from the day it’s issued, and every passed inspection starts that six months over. Miss it and the permit expires. To finish the job, a new permit is issued that references the old permit number, and the inspection history carries over to it. An open permit doesn’t show up on a title report, so it often surfaces late, when someone finally runs a permit search on the house.

A failed inspection. The work was inspected and didn’t pass. That comes with a list of what has to be corrected. Sometimes it’s small. Sometimes it means opening a wall. Either way, the list tells you what you’re dealing with before you spend a dollar.

An open code violation. The city or county sent you a written notice. An overgrown yard, junk outside, a structure, work done without a permit. You’re given time to fix it. If it isn’t fixed, it goes to the code enforcement board, and the board can start fining.

A recorded lien. The fines weren’t paid and the order was recorded in the public records. Now it’s a lien on the property, and on other property the owner holds. A title company finds it when it searches, and it has to be paid, reduced or settled before the sale can close.

What it costs if it sits

Under Florida law, a code board can fine up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat, plus the cost of repairs. Larger cities can adopt higher limits. A daily fine keeps counting until the violation is fixed.

Once the fine order is recorded, it’s a lien, and it can stay on the property for up to 20 years.

Here’s what most people don’t know. A code lien can’t be foreclosed on a homestead. Florida law says it plainly. If it’s the house you live in, nobody is taking it from you over a fine.

The lien doesn’t disappear, though. When you sell, it comes up in the title search, and it gets paid, reduced or settled before you close. Knowing that early gives you time to deal with it on your terms.

If you sell with an open case

You can. Florida law asks for three things before the sale, in writing:

1. Tell the buyer the case exists and what it’s about.
2. Give the buyer copies of the notices and papers you’ve received.
3. Tell the buyer the new owner will be responsible for bringing the property into compliance.

Then, within 5 days after the sale, file a notice with the code enforcement official with the new owner’s name and address and copies of what you gave the buyer.

The step people skip

If you don’t make those disclosures, Florida law presumes the sale was meant to defraud the buyer. And selling doesn’t close the case. The new owner gets a reasonable time to fix it.

Telling the buyer up front protects you. A buyer who knows about the violation can price it in.

Getting a fine reduced

You can ask for a reduction. Florida lets code boards reduce fines. When they decide, they look at how serious the violation was, what you’ve done to fix it, and whether there were earlier violations.

Palm Coast has a form for it: a sworn, notarized Request for Reduction of Fine/Lien. It asks when the property was brought into compliance, so fix it first. If you have a financial or medical hardship, attach the proof.

You have to be at the hearing in person. Administrative costs aren’t reduced. And once a lien has been recorded, the board only makes a recommendation. Palm Coast City Council makes the call. The form goes to the Board Secretary at 160 Lake Avenue, Palm Coast.

City or county: who you call in Flagler

Your mailing address doesn’t tell you who handles your case. Where the house actually sits does.

Inside Palm Coast city limits
Palm Coast Code Compliance, 386-986-3764. Look up a case at palmcoast.gov/codeviolationsearch. For liens and payoffs, the city’s lien request service, 386-986-2360.
Unincorporated Flagler County
Flagler County Code Enforcement, 386-313-4084. Cases are on the county’s code enforcement portal.
Bunnell, Flagler Beach or Beverly Beach
Neither office above covers them. Start at that city’s own city hall.
An open or expired permit in Palm Coast
The city’s Building Division. Their expired permit instructions explain the steps. The fix is a new permit that references the old permit number.

What I’d do first

Before you spend money on repairs, get the facts on paper: the notice or case number, any recorded lien and its payoff, and the permit history on the house.

Then you can decide with real numbers. Fix it, ask for a reduction, or sell it as is with the problem disclosed. All three are legitimate. Which one is right depends on what it costs to fix against what the house is worth.

See what you’d actually walk away with

A free calculator that puts your payoff, any lien or judgment, and the cost of selling against what the house would actually sell for.

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Run your numbers →
Robert T. Szigeti

Still have questions? Just ask.

I buy houses. I’d rather you know how this works before you talk to anyone, me included. If the answer is a closed permit and a reduced fine, sell it the usual way and keep the difference. And if you want to talk it through, there’s no contract in a phone call. Nothing to sign, nothing to agree to.

Robert T. Szigeti · Investor · Problem Solver · Palm Coast, FL
robert@therobertszigeti.com386-307-3179
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Where this comes from · checked October 17, 2026
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