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Magistrate trims large liens, continues historic $400,800 lien for title review
Summary
At the West Palm Beach Special Magistrate hearing, Amity Bernard authorized negotiated reductions of long‑running fines — including a reduction of an $85,100 lien to $7,000 — and continued a 2012 $400,800 lien to allow city legal staff to research foreclosure/title records before ruling further.
The City of West Palm Beach Special Magistrate issued several significant lien reductions and a continuance at the May 6, 2026 code‑enforcement hearing.
Anthony Nelum, the current owner of 3300 Australian Court, reached a settlement with the city to reduce a prior lien (case C18010026) from $10,500 to $1,000, payable within 90 days. A separate roof‑repair lien (C200090347) for the same address was reduced by the magistrate from $4,600 to $700 after Nelum described financial constraints and produced evidence the work had been completed.
At 915 Fifth Street, the magistrate reduced a 2019 lien (C19030026) from $85,100 to $7,000 and granted the owner 180 days to pay. The hearing also revealed a much older lien from 2012 (C12020193) with an original dollar amount cited at $400,800; the city asked for time to investigate whether foreclosure or other title actions have already affected that historic lien. The magistrate continued C12020193 to the May 20 calendar so city legal staff can report back.
Williams Construction (Tuxedo Avenue LLC) described protracted interactions with multiple city reviewers and inspectors while bringing a commercial property into compliance; company representatives and their operations director said they spent roughly $190,000 to resolve code issues, removed a dust collector after years of effort and paid for required work. The magistrate reduced two combined building fines that totaled $171,000 to $25,000 payable in 60 days, citing the company’s remediation efforts and the lengthy, multi‑department review history.
Magistrate Bernard said she reduced fines after weighing the length of time cases had been open, the degree of effort to remediate, and evidence of financial hardship or administrative breakdowns. At the same time she warned owners that future repeat violations would be treated less leniently.
Next steps: the city will produce written orders specifying payment instructions and will research the foreclosure/title history on the 2012 lien before the May 20 continuance. Owners with payment schedules were told to follow up with code compliance staff for documentation and to arrange payment.
