Here’s an interesting television report regarding a landlord fined $129,000 for building code violations at a Fairfield, Ohio apartment building. http://www.wlwt.com/video/26069375/detail.html The news segment shows the deplorable conditions in the building. Such a huge fine always catches my attention. What I wonder if how often local governments actually collect the fines owed and whether the fines lead to compliance. I’d love to hear from some inspectors about their experiences with assessing large penalties and their success or failure after sentencing. I was speaking to a purchaser of distressed property today who was chuckling about a court case in a city where the corporation counsel was bragging about a $200,000 fine she had obtained against a developer. But, when the developer came to court, he said he’d declared bankruptcy, had no money to pay the fine or fix the building and was walking away from the entire mess. My caller said that the judge may as well have made the fine 2 million dollars because the person was never going to pay a cent.