Certificate of Use Inspection
Adopted ordinance to protect buyers of foreclosed homes
Effective on April 1, 2009, buyers of foreclosed
properties in unincorporated Miami-Dade County will get some
protection against unexpected repairs or other deficiencies
of the property under an ordinance adopted by the Miami-Dade
Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on December 2, 2008.
Ordinance No. 08-133 applies to all residential properties
in unincorporated Miami-Dade County which are acquired through
a Certificate of Title (Foreclosures and Judgments), in accordance
with Chapter 45, Florida Statutes. Residential properties
affected include single-family homes, condominiums, townhouses
and duplexes.
The adopted ordinance requires that title holders of foreclosed
properties obtain a Certificate of Use (CU) prior to offering
the property for sale, transfer or alienation.
On March 3, 2009 the BCC adopted the implementing orders
addressing this new requirement. These implementing orders
contain changes to the CU process administered by the Department
of Planning and Zoning (DP&Z) in order to provide for
the new CU requirement and for the $300 (plus 8% surcharge)
per-property filing and processing fee.
The new CU includes the preparation of a disclosure of findings
report, which identifies building or zoning code violations
for such properties and contains a good faith estimate of
the cost to remedy any deficiencies. This report must
be completed by an architect or professional engineer licensed
and registered in the State of Florida. The new CU
process can be briefly described as follows:
- Completed disclosure of findings report will be submitted
to the Zoning Permits Section of the Department at the Miami-Dade
Permitting and Inspection Center on Coral Way (11805 SW
26 Street), along with the initial filing fee of $250 +
8% surcharge.
- Department of Planning and Zoning staff will review the
report and determine acceptance or denial (neither of which
is contingent upon resolution of reported violations). Staff
will report potential violations to the appropriate agencies.
- If the disclosure of findings report is rejected and
must be re-submitted, an additional $50 + 8% surcharge fee
will be charged.
- If the disclosure of findings report is accepted, the
holder of the Certificate of Title will file the accepted
report with the Clerk of the Courts.
- The recorded document will then be submitted to DP&Z
(along with the remaining filing fee amount of $50 + 8%
surcharge ) in order to obtain the final Certificate of
Use
Failure to obtain the required CU will result in
penalties as provided in Chapter 8CC of the County code.
For additional information and filing forms:
|
