A title search conducted during a planned sale uncovered a lien of more than $23,000 on the Sun City Center home of a 91-year-old man. According to WFLA, the debt began with two accidental security alerts in 2022 and grew through daily fines that the man's family says he did not know about. His daughter, Terri Bashoor, found the lien while preparing the property for sale.
The property had previous false-alarm incidents dating to 2020, according to WFLA. Two incidents on Aug. 20 and Sept. 1, 2022, generated charges of $50 and $100. The station reported that the county generally warns property owners after a property's first two false alarms rather than immediately imposing fines.
A Notice That Never Reached Him
As noted by WFLA, the station's report notes that a notice of violation was mailed to the property owner but came back marked unclaimed and unable to forward. With no response on file, the county sent the case to a special magistrate in May 2023, who ruled the penalty had to be paid within 30 days or a $20-per-day fine would begin accruing. Fines started on June 12, 2023, and per the same account, kept stacking up daily for years, eventually accounting for the remainder of the $23,100 lien.
Bashoor told the outlet the daily $20 late fee seemed excessive and abusive, and that she could not afford to cover the mounting fees. She said she paid $150 last month toward the balance, a fraction of what had accumulated by the time she learned about it.
What the County Ordinance Covers
According to Hillsborough County, Ordinance 04-16 is the county's security-alarm ordinance and provides penalties for false alarms reported to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department. The county's cited overview identifies the ordinance but does not, by itself, specify the full current fee schedule, escalation rules or notice procedures; the amounts and timeline described here are those reported in this case.
County Says It Will Dismiss The Lien
Hillsborough County has told the station it will dismiss the lien, though, per a report from WFLA, a county spokesperson said officials have not yet decided whether to waive all of the associated fees given the circumstances. For Bashoor and her father, that leaves an open question hanging over the sale of the family home even as the underlying lien is set to go away.
