Tamarac, FL Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Tamarac's Minimum Housing Code, City Code Chapter 5, Article X, is enforced by the Tamarac Code Compliance Division, defined in Sec. 5-203 as the "enforcing agency." Inspectors may enter and survey dwellings, hotels, rooming houses and adjacent vacant lots at reasonable hours; if an owner refuses consent the city can seek an inspection warrant under F.S. Sections 933.20-933.30, except for owner-occupied family residences, which are exempt. Under Sec. 5-218(b), the head of the enforcing agency must declare a structure unfit for human occupancy if it is "so dilapidated, damaged, decayed, unsanitary, unsafe, or vermin infested that it creates a serious hazard to the health or safety of the occupants or the public," lacks adequate light, ventilation or sanitary facilities, or is otherwise dangerous by reason of its condition or location.

The written notice must summarize the defects and order the structure vacated within five days, and the city posts a placard reading "THESE PREMISES NOT FIT FOR HUMAN OCCUPANCY." If the owner does not voluntarily comply, the director applies to the special magistrate for a condemnation hearing. Under Sec. 5-218(i), the enforcing agency compares the cost of corrective repairs to the building's current replacement cost less depreciation: above fifty percent, the building may be demolished and removed; at or below fifty percent, it may instead be repaired or renovated.

Under Sec. 5-217, once the special magistrate enters a final order the city can have the structure repaired, altered, vacated or demolished, and all costs become a special assessment lien recorded in the Broward County public records, foreclosable like a mortgage. Emergency orders under Sec. 5-216 let the director act immediately, without prior notice to the owner, when disease, an epidemic or an unsanitary condition threatens public health and safety.