{"id":408004,"date":"2026-09-23T07:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408004\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T07:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:13:07","slug":"orange-county-tenant-shocked-after-learning-rental-home-had-been-condemned-before-move-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408004\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County tenant shocked after learning rental home had been condemned before move-in"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A tenant who moved into an Orange County rental home in late July said she was shocked when code enforcement showed up more than a month later and told her the house had been condemned.<\/p>\n

Sabena Sokhi said she did not know the home had been posted with a county condemnation notice before she signed her lease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in absolute shock. I was in tears,\u201d Sokhi told News 6.<\/p>\n

According to the county, code compliance placed a condemnation sticker on the home June 1 \u2014 more than a month before Sokhi moved in. It is unclear who removed the original sticker, but Sokhi said a county employee later told her someone had taken it down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says somebody took the sticker off and I\u2019m here to reapply it,\u201d Sokhi explained. <\/p>\n

County records obtained by News 6 show the home had multiple code violations, including damaged electrical outlets and plumbing work done without permits. <\/p>\n

When News 6 first contacted Orange County about the property, a spokesperson said on Sept. 10 the home was safe and no longer condemned. The next day, video recorded by Sokhi shows a county employee removing the sticker.<\/p>\n

Orange County said the home was code-compliant on Sept. 2, when an inspector went to Sokhi\u2019s home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe exact date of repairs is unknown as the owner never contacted us,\u201d said Dustin Wyatt, public information officer & outreach coordinator for Orange County. \u201cWe were able to confirm compliance on 9\/2 when the new tenant granted us access inside to follow up on the previous tenant\u2019s complaints.\u201d <\/p>\n

News 6 questioned why the condemnation sticker was still on the property a week later if the home was compliant.<\/p>\n

During our interview with Sokhi, Orange County provided another statement saying, \u201cThe condemned sticker should have been removed once the major life safety code violations were brought into compliance. The sticker remained on the property in error,\u201d the county continued. \u201cWe are also reviewing the matter internally and working with code compliance staff to help ensure the proper procedures are followed moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sokhi said the situation has been frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some blame, but no one is taking accountability,\u201d she told News 6.<\/p>\n

News 6 followed up with Orange County, asking whether the sticker was replaced in error and what procedures were not followed. The county responded that the matter has been resolved and had nothing further to add.<\/p>\n

Sokhi is renting the home from Main Street Renewal, a company that leases properties nationwide. News 6 asked Main Street Renewal if it was aware the home was condemned, if it had any conversations with Orange County about the current conditions of the home or the previous code violations, and if it was aware of the condemned sticker being removed before Sohki\u2019s arrival. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson said, \u201cWe have been actively working with the resident and Orange County Code Enforcement to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

After News 6 contacted Main Street Renewal, Sokhi told us the company offered to relocate her or compensate her for the trouble.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Click to contact the News 6 Investigators. (Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A tenant who moved into an Orange County rental home in late July said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2026,1335,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-408004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-investigators","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}