Cooper City is taking a Guardian Estates property owner to court, asking a judge to let the city foreclose on a house at 5130 SW 101 Terrace so it can collect on mounting code-enforcement fines. The civil complaint, filed July 7, names United MYM LLC as the record owner, lists two unknown tenants as defendants, and seeks a court-approved sale of the home to cover the city's claims. The case is on file in Broward County Circuit Court as CACE-26-011002.
What the complaint alleges
According to the complaint reviewed by Boca Post, the filing pulls together two separate code-enforcement cases that have already gone through the Special Magistrate process and been recorded as liens tied to the property.
The city labels the first as Count I, tied to code-enforcement case no. 240607. The complaint says a violation was found on June 17, 2024, with an order later recorded on Oct. 18, 2024, under Instrument No. 119855807. Count II tracks case no. 230005, which the filing says resulted in a Sept. 18, 2023 finding and an order recorded on Dec. 13, 2023, as Instrument No. 119281852.
In both counts, Cooper City alleges the code-enforcement liens remain unpaid and that daily fines are still accruing, increasing the tab the city now wants to collect through foreclosure.
City moved the matter this spring
An inter-office memo from the City Attorney's Office, signed by Jacob G. Horowitz and Aaron S. Brenker, shows the United MYM property did not land in court overnight. The memo confirms the house was flagged for lien-foreclosure review after a Special Magistrate hearing and lists an updated fine balance as of April 8, 2026.
The paper trail continues at City Hall. The city's April 28 meeting agenda included a "Code Lien Foreclosure Update" item, which placed the Guardian Estates case on the commission's radar that month. Those internal records indicate the city started title work on the property and planned to seek direction from the commission before pulling the trigger on a circuit-court filing.
How the law allows this to proceed
The legal playbook Cooper City is using is a familiar one in Florida. Chapter 162 of the Florida Statutes allows municipalities to turn code-enforcement orders imposing fines into recorded liens. If the bill is not paid for three months, the law authorizes cities, with approval from their governing body, to head to court and seek foreclosure, with proceeds from any sale going toward the lien.
The complaint cites that framework, pointing to Florida Statutes and Cooper City's own code. The municipal code explains that once a code-enforcement order is recorded, it effectively warns any later buyer that the lien is attached to the property. It also provides that the prevailing party in a foreclosure action can recover costs and attorney fees, which helps explain why the city is comfortable asking the court to shift those expenses onto the losing side.
What the city is asking the court to do
The lawsuit is not just a shot across the bow. The complaint asks for a final judgment of foreclosure that would clear the way for the Guardian Estates property to be sold to satisfy Cooper City's code-enforcement liens, according to Boca Post's review of the filing.
The city also wants the court to cut off competing claims to the property and to award interest, costs, expenses and attorney's fees as part of any judgment. If a judge ultimately grants those remedies and a sale goes forward, the complaint says the proceeds would be applied first to the city's liens, with any leftover funds distributed according to further court orders.
As of the filing date, the complaint does not list defense counsel and does not record any response from United MYM LLC or from the two tenants named as unknown defendants.
Local context and next steps
In city materials, Goren, Cherof, Doody & Ezrol, P.A. is identified as the firm handling the lien work, part of a broader push that has seen other problem properties run through a similar review process this year. The inter-office memo and commission agenda together show that Cooper City laid the legal groundwork before moving the dispute into the 17th Judicial Circuit.
Now that the case is on the docket, the next moves will play out through hearings and court filings. How it ends is straightforward, if not exactly swift: the liens could be paid off, negotiated and settled, or, if neither of those happens, ultimately foreclosed through a court-ordered sale.
