Miami homeowner says wrongly placed lien by city could lead to foreclosure

A Little Havana homeowner says she is facing the threat of foreclosure after Miami placed a $55,650 code-enforcement lien on her property — one that her attorney argues should never have existed.

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“The city of Miami is stopping my client from fixing her own home over a lien that doesn’t exist,” said Ari Pregen, who is an attorney with The Code Clinic and represents homeowner Angelica Martinez.

Martinez says she feels trapped in the home, which she purchased in 2019.

Miami code inspectors said they observed contractors replacing roof framing, installing a wood fence and constructing a concrete driveway without permits during a proactive inspection in September 2024. CBS News Miami obtained still images from body camera footage recorded during that inspection.

“It’s just a mistake — a very expensive mistake they’re making me pay for,” Martinez said.

Martinez acknowledges hiring a crew to repair her wood-frame roof. However, she and her attorney contend she was not responsible for the fence or driveway that also became the subject of the city’s code-enforcement case.

According to Pregen, city records show the property’s previous owner completed renovations in 2018. While the permits from that project do not reference the fence or driveway, Google Earth images from February 2019 appear to show both improvements already in place months before Martinez purchased the home.

“I got an attorney, did a title search, everything went through review making sure there was no debt or lien on the house to make sure the house was clean for me to purchase,” Martinez said. “Zero violations existed. My attorneys reviewed the whole history of the house. There was no issue whatsoever.”

After the 2024 inspection, Martinez agreed to lower the fence and bring the driveway into compliance. Pregen acknowledged that homeowners can be held responsible for correcting code violations even if they did not originally perform the work.

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However, Pregen said city inspectors later signed an affidavit of compliance certifying Martinez had corrected the violations roughly two months ago.

“Everything was reviewed and they told me I was done and I could go ahead living in my house without any issues,” Martinez said.

The city disputes that characterization.

In a statement to CBS News Miami, the city’s Code Enforcement Department said the property owner was found in violation by the Code Enforcement Board during a Jan. 22, 2025, hearing and was given 120 days to comply. Officials said the board ordered a $150-per-day fine if the violations remained after the compliance deadline.

According to the city, permits for the driveway and fence were submitted on July 31, 2025, finalized on Feb. 9, 2026, and no request for additional time was submitted before the compliance deadline expired. As a result, officials said the daily fines accumulated into a $55,650 lien.

“We looked for the lien in three different ways in the city’s own public records and there is no lien recorded,” Pregen said. “It isn’t there, and yet they’re still trying to use it to freeze her life.”

Martinez said the lien has prevented her from renovating or selling her home while the dispute continues.

Her case is scheduled to be heard before Miami’s Code Enforcement Board during a mitigation hearing on Sept. 22.

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This report was produced by Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami.