Miramar, FL Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Article VII of Chapter 10, the city's property maintenance article, is not limited to occupied buildings. Section 10-121's applicability clause reaches every residential, nonresidential or mixed-use building or parcel of land, regardless of when it was built or what permits it carries, which pulls raw, unimproved parcels into the article's maintenance duties. Section 10-124 then lists what that duty requires. Its refuse clause, § 10-124(1), bars brush, weeds, broken glass, stumps, roots, obnoxious growths, filth, garbage, trash and debris on the premises, though properly containerized garbage awaiting collection is excluded. The same section separately requires dead or hazardous trees and limbs to be removed (§ 10-124(2)), bars loose or overhanging objects that could fall on passersby (§ 10-124(3)), and requires holes, excavations and other ground hazards to be filled and repaired with reasonable dispatch upon discovery (§ 10-124(4)). Standing water that could breed mosquitoes or other pests must also be eliminated as a source of infestation under § 10-124(6).

Where a violation exists, § 10-129 gives the code enforcement officer authority to notify the owner or operator and set a reasonable correction period under § 2-77.2. An uncorrected violation moves into the city's supplemental code enforcement process authorized by Fla. Stat. § 162.21, and under § 10-129(b) the city can pursue the matter as a civil nuisance action; unpaid liens for violations of this article that sit six months past due can be foreclosed by the city attorney the same way a mortgage would be foreclosed.