HSCO Data

Code enforcement liens: the numbers

Outstanding code liens and open cases in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater and five more Tampa Bay cities, from the cities’ own records.

Last updated October 16, 2026 · updated when the cities send new records

The short answer

St. Petersburg’s code enforcement lien report (as of October 1, 2026) listed $55.6 million in outstanding liens on 2,781 properties — a median of $9,300 per property, with 96 properties owing $100,000 or more. Clearwater’s lien report showed $31.8 million due on code enforcement liens on 126 properties.

St. Petersburg: outstanding code enforcement liens

Measure	Value
Outstanding liens on the city’s report	12,247
Properties with a lien balance	2,781
Total of the outstanding liens	$55.6 million
Median total per property	$9,300
Properties owing $10,000 or more	1,319
Properties owing $50,000 or more	291
Properties owing $100,000 or more	96

In the city’s report, many cases show a new lien recorded month after month while a Code Enforcement Board order goes unmet, so one case can carry several liens and a property’s total keeps growing until it complies.

When the unpaid liens were recorded

Liens still unpaid on the October 1, 2026 report, by the month they were recorded: about 148 a month from 2026 and about 113 a month from 2025. Older liens have had more time to be paid off, so this shows what is still owed, not how many liens the city records.

Month recorded	Liens still unpaid
Oct 2025	129
Nov 2025	114
Dec 2025	122
Jan 2026	149
Feb 2026	120
Mar 2026	143
Apr 2026	129
May 2026	144
Jun 2026	178
Jul 2026	145
Aug 2026	176
Sep 2026	147

Clearwater: lien balances by type

Lien type	Properties with a balance	Total due
Code enforcement	126	$31.8 million
Lot-clearing abatement	141	$188,723

Amounts due on the city’s lien report as of October 12, 2026.

Tampa: open code enforcement records

Tampa’s list (as of October 12, 2026) held 12,792 open records on 7,452 properties. Most are complaints; the city’s file has no lien amounts.

Record type	Open records
Complaint	8,160
Code Case	2,676
Civil Case	1,218
Remedial Order	632
Demolition	62
Rental Certificate	35
Signs	7

All cities in this data

City	Records	Properties	Data as of	What the city sent
St. Petersburg	23,529	10,683	Oct 5, 2026	the city’s code enforcement lien report and its active-cases list
Tampa	12,792	7,452	Oct 12, 2026	the city’s list of open code enforcement records
Clearwater	4,343	2,668	Oct 12, 2026	code cases and unsafe-structure cases opened since January 2025, and the amounts due by lien type
Plant City	1,408	808	Oct 12, 2026	code cases opened since October 2025
Largo	722	661	Dec 1, 2025	open and recent code cases (file dated December 2025)
Oldsmar	746	510	Oct 13, 2026	the complaint log, notice-of-violation log and board fines
Indian Rocks Beach	235	206	Oct 12, 2026	special magistrate fine orders
Dunedin	87	64	Oct 13, 2026	code board agendas and orders, and demolition permits

Each city keeps different records, so compare within a city, not across cities.

How code fines become liens in Florida

Daily fines. Under Florida Statutes §162.09, a code enforcement board or special magistrate can fine an owner for each day a violation continues past the deadline — up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat, and higher where a city or county of 50,000+ residents has adopted larger caps.
The order becomes a lien once a certified copy is recorded, and fines keep running until the property complies. A code lien can’t be foreclosed on a homestead.
Selling with a lien. Recorded liens show up in the title search and are paid or released from the sale proceeds at closing. On its post-storm damage-assessment cases, St. Petersburg says: “An active codes case does not prevent a property sale.” More: selling a house with code violations or liens.

How we collect this data

Source: records each city sent us under Florida’s public records law, delivered in October 2026 (Largo’s file is from December 2025).
What we count: records and distinct properties as each city delivered them. Lien totals are sums of the cities’ own lien report rows.
Privacy: counts and totals only — no addresses, parcel numbers or owner names. Any figure under 5 is shown as “<5”.
Refresh: when the cities send new files. Download the figures (CSV). Last updated October 16, 2026.

Questions about this data

How much does St. Petersburg have in outstanding code enforcement liens?

$55.6 million on 2,781 properties, according to the city’s lien report as of October 1, 2026. The median property owed $9,300; 96 owed $100,000 or more.

How many St. Petersburg code liens date from 2026?

Of the liens still unpaid on the city’s October 1, 2026 report, about 148 a month were recorded in 2026 and about 113 a month in 2025. Older liens have had more time to be paid, so this counts what is still owed. Many cases add a new lien month after month while a board order goes unmet.

How many open code cases does Tampa have?

Tampa’s list as of October 12, 2026 held 12,792 open code enforcement records on 7,452 properties, most of them complaints.

Can you sell a house with code enforcement liens in Florida?

Yes. Recorded code liens show up in the title search and are paid or released from the sale proceeds at closing, and a buyer who buys as-is can take on the repairs after closing.

Where does this data come from?

From public records the cities of St. Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater, Plant City, Largo, Oldsmar, Indian Rocks Beach and Dunedin sent HomeSellerCashOffer. We publish counts and totals only.

Related guides

Cite as: HomeSellerCashOffer (Tampete Homes LLC), Tampa Bay housing data, homesellercashoffer.com/data. HomeSellerCashOffer is a direct cash home buyer, not a real estate agent or broker; this page is general information, not legal advice.