Sanford, FL Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

Sanford City Code § 78-123 applies to residential rental property but exempts hotels, motels, roominghouses, resort dwellings and bed and breakfast inns. An absentee owner must supply the name, address, phone number and other contact information of a local designated representative who conducts business within Seminole County or an abutting county, appointed within 60 days of the ordinance's effective date. The representative must keep a current working local phone number and a physical local address, not a post office box, and report any change of address, location or phone number to the city within 30 days.

Once designated, the representative is authorized to speak for the owner during code enforcement proceedings unless controlling state law precludes it. The owner or representative pays a designation fee set by resolution of the city commission. The city manager, with the police chief, reports annually to the commission on the program, and the city manager may adopt administrative rules to implement it, including fees for applications and appeals. This registration duty sits inside the same nuisance-abatement article that lets the city fine chronic-nuisance properties and lien unpaid service fees, so an absentee owner who ignores the representative requirement is also exposed to the article's broader enforcement machinery.