Florida woman fined over $100,000 for overgrown grass on foreclosed property

A small, seaside city outside of Tampa fined a woman more than $103,000 for overgrown grass and a dirty swimming pool in a house she no longer owned, according to a USA Today report.

Kristi Allen, 38, received a letter from the city of Dunedin saying she owed $92,000 worth of fines, which she needed to pay in two weeks or risk being sued. She thought the letter was a scam, USA Today reports.

Three months later, the city sued to collect the money owed, which had grown significantly after interest charges and other fees.

According to the report, Allen moved to Dunedin in 2005 to be with her boyfriend, who later became her husband. She bought a bungalow-style house with a pool and backyard next to a hiking trail. But then the financial crisis in 2008 hit, and Allen was forced to take a pay cut and lost her house in the wave of foreclosures. She signed an agreement with U.S. Bank National Association allowing the foreclosure and moved out of the house.

A code inspector visited the foreclosed house, USA Today reports, three years after Allen had moved out. The inspector found brown palm fronds littered on the overgrown backyard and a swimming pool that had turned a bright green and was mosquito infested.

City officials sent notices of the problems to Allen, who was still listed as the homeowner in county property records, according to the report. The letters were returned undeliverable with no forwarding address, but the city kept fining her anyway.

More here…

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