Sumter County family faces $50K fine after code enforcement notices sent to wrong address

A Central Florida family is fighting to hold onto a piece of property that carries decades of history — after Sumter County code enforcement fines were mailed to an outdated address following their grandmother’s death.

Starley Ard says the ordeal started when her grandmother died in 2018. Code enforcement fines accumulated, but notices went to an old address. The family didn’t find out they owed money until 2021 — three years later — when Starley’s father received a pre-foreclosure notice.

“We were stunned. We were really shocked,” Ard said.

A piece of family history on the line

The property is more than land to Ard.

“This is more than a piece of land or piece of property,” she said. “What once stood here was the house that my father grew up in and my grandmother lived.”

The home is no longer standing. Ard says the family didn’t have enough money to repair it, so they demolished it to address the county’s code violations.

A years-long legal struggle

The path to get here was long. After receiving the pre-foreclosure notice in 2021, the family filed for probate with an attorney in 2024 — a legal process used to settle a deceased person’s estate and transfer ownership of property. By 2025, they learned the probate filing had not been completed correctly.

With the violations still unresolved, they demolished the home and reached a settlement agreement with the county: pay nearly $9,000 in full once the property sold.

Earlier this year, a buyer backed out of the sale. The county reinstated the original $50,000 fine.

County warns: Update your records

County officials say property owners and heirs should update their address and ownership information with the property appraiser’s office as soon as possible to avoid a similar situation.

Ard echoed that advice.

“Start thinking about that kind of stuff now, start planning, have a plan in place,” she said. “Because if we could go back in time, we would have had all this in a trust. We would have done our due diligence a little better to make sure that it was protected.”

What’s at stake

Ard says she is now asking the county to reinstate the $9,000 settlement agreement. If the county refuses, she says she will lose the property entirely.

The family is trying to raise money to save their land. If you want to help, click here.