Short version: SNITCH has already filed a code complaint in Seminole County, by email, under our own name. The county took it, worked it, and treated us like any other complainant. Then we read the county’s website, which says what we did isn’t allowed. So on October 19 we asked the County Attorney to explain.
What Florida actually requires
Since July 1, 2021, Florida bans anonymous code complaints. Section 125.69(4)(b) and its companions (§ 162.06, § 162.21, § 166.0415) say a code inspector can’t open an investigation unless the person reporting the violation gives a name and address. That’s the whole requirement. Name and address. The one exception is a violation that threatens public health, safety, or the environment right now.
SNITCH is built around that rule. We don’t hide the complainant. We are the complainant. The Z Production Group, Inc., files under its own legal name and business address, and that’s what goes on the county’s record. A public-records request under Chapter 119 returns our information, not yours.
What Seminole County’s website says
The county’s Code Enforcement Common Questions page tells residents they must give a full name, address, telephone number, and first-hand knowledge of the violation. Then it adds: “You may not submit a complaint on behalf of someone else.” The page points to the same statutes above as the source.
Those statutes don’t say any of that. No first-hand knowledge. No phone number. No ban on representatives. A county can set its own procedures within its authority, but calling a county preference a state-law requirement is a different thing, and the page does it under a statutory citation.
Taken literally, the page also bars a lawyer from filing for a client. Nobody thinks the Legislature meant that.
What happened when we filed anyway
Earlier this year a SNITCH client in Seminole County had a neighbor whose yard looked like the Clampetts had moved in. We reviewed the photos, confirmed the condition was a fileable violation, and emailed the complaint to Code Enforcement under SNITCH’s name and address.
Nobody asked whether we’d seen the property. Nobody asked who our client was. Nobody said a business couldn’t file. The staff were helpful and the complaint went into the system like any other.
So the county’s page says one thing and its department does another. Either the page is wrong, or the rules exist and nobody’s applying them. The county moved code enforcement from the Sheriff’s Office to the Development Services Department on October 1, 2025, and the main Code Enforcement page only quotes the statute, so our guess is the Common Questions page is a holdover nobody updated. That’s a guess. We’d rather have an answer.
What we asked the county
On October 19 we emailed the County Attorney’s Office, copying Code Enforcement Manager Jon Martin, and asked for a written interpretation on five points:
- What legal authority requires first-hand knowledge, and what does that term mean?
- What authority prohibits filing through an authorized representative?
- Can a corporation file under its own legal name and address?
- Can a business submit information it reviewed but originally received from a client?
- What legal authority makes a telephone number mandatory?
We also asked the county to cite any ordinance, rule, or written policy behind the page, and to correct it if the extra requirements turn out to be county policy dressed up as state law.
What this means if you’re in Seminole County
You can order a SNITCH filing for a Seminole County address today. We’ve done it, the county accepted it, and we’ll keep filing until someone in authority tells us in writing that we can’t and cites the law that says so.
Two honest caveats. First, the county could change its mind. If it does, we’ll tell you before you pay, not after. Verification that the jurisdiction will take our complaint happens before you place an order, not after. Second, “the county has our name instead of yours” is the real mechanic here. It’s a good one. It is not a guarantee that nobody will ever figure out who lives next door to the junk pile. Code enforcement is about the condition, not the complainant, but neighbors can still do math.
When the County Attorney responds, we’ll post the answer here in full, with whatever ordinance or policy the county cites. If it cites nothing, we’ll post that too.
The longer version of this, with the full statutory walk-through, is on Chaz Stevens’s Substack.
Sources: Seminole County Common Questions | Seminole County Code Enforcement | § 125.69 | § 162.06 | § 162.21 | § 166.0415 | § 1.01 | SB 60 summary
