Sixteenth Circuit Court Judge David Audlin has overruled a Monroe County Code Enforcement hearing officer on the grounds that county waited too long to cite a Big Pine Key homeowner for having a suspected illegal downstairs enclosure.

Habitable downstairs rooms in flood zones have been illegal in the Florida Keys since 1975, when the county began participating in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The downstairs enclosure had been there since 1983, but the county did not cite the owners until June 2007.

"Regardless of whether a statute of limitations applies, the failure by the county to allege, and prove, the date of the offense has created an enforcement situation where the county is belatedly taking action against a property owner, at least 24 years after the violation was apparently known to the county," Audlin wrote.

It's unclear whether the case will impact other cases.