Civil Liberties

She’s at risk of losing her Florida home over a violation she didn’t know existed

Ben Wieder, Ryan Callihan
Tue, April 25, 2023 at 8:00 AM EDT · 7 min read

Last month Marina Adair returned to Bradenton desperate to save her home. ... The 1925 house, located in the Village of the Arts neighborhood Adair helped found, had once been the location for her art space, Marina’s Village Studios and Gallery, which spotlighted local artists. But Adair, 63, had planned to move in and spend the rest of her life there. ... The artsy neighborhood is home to more than a dozen studios and shops that are also artists residences. In Bradenton, the community is known for its vibrantly painted homes and Art Walk events that attract thousands of visitors every month.

Adair’s retirement plan was put in jeopardy, however, after the city filed suit against her last August to foreclose on the house over unpaid code enforcement fines. ... The fines stemmed from a 2014 code violation for “dirt, mold and mildew” and “chalking, chipped and peeling paint” on the exterior walls of her house, which Adair said was the result of algae from banyan trees in the front of her house and paint that was stripped when she removed a vine growing on the house. ... Adair was aware of the initial violation, but believed it had been resolved back in 2014 when she had hired a handyman to clean the walls.

The lawsuit came as a shock. ... It was filed by a private attorney named Matt Weidner, who signed a contract with the city in 2020 to file foreclosure lawsuits against properties with unpaid code fines. Under the terms of the agreement, Weidner gets a portion of whatever the city recovers by foreclosing on homes and selling them at auction or reaching settlements with owners like Adair to pay some or all of what they owe.

A Miami Herald investigation found that Weidner has signed similar agreements with a total of nine cities and counties across the state and that he has supercharged foreclosures for code violations in the cities that hire him. ... That investigation, and its impact, might now help Adair keep her house.

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