This Florida homeowner has been assessed nearly $75,000 in fines for trash, debris piling up the yard — and neighbors are speaking out

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

Steve Kaufman, the man who’s turned his mother’s lawn into a suburban junkyard, says he is a general contractor but as ABC Action News reporter Adam Walser discovered, Kaufman doesn’t have a state license.

Walser caught up with Kaufman as he arrived at his mom’s property with wood beams and an old tire on top of his minivan. As Wasler asked Kaufman about the appliances that were riddled across his mother’s front lawn, Kaufman implied that he fixes them for his customers.

“Well, I had to hang onto them for customers, temporarily. I’m a general [contractor] so… I’ve got a buddy that does this with me.”

Some of what’s included in Kaufman’s collection are household appliances, disabled vehicles, lawnmowers, bicycles, mattresses, wood beams, assorted furniture and rotted drywall. And since it’s all been drenched in salt water from the hurricanes, neighbors can’t quite understand what Kaufman is doing.

“Rotten drywall with mold is going to be converted into what, exactly?” Ramirez asked Walser.

Not only are the neighbors confused, they’re also concerned. The appliances on Kaufman’s lawn — including refrigerators and washing machines — come with doors attached, and neighbors were worried about local children getting locked inside one of these appliances.

“I don’t understand why,” said Kaufman. “There’s no locks on these things or anything.”

When neighbors escalated their concerns to the police, officers arrived at Kaufman’s mother’s property and removed the doors from the appliances.

During a 2023 Tarpon Springs code enforcement board hearing, an officer testified that the property has looked like this for at least five years (since around 2018) and confirmed the amount of “trash” around the property and on the roof.

Kaufman has refused to allow code enforcement officers to inspect the backyard, saying there were too many valuables stored behind the house. Angered by his non-compliance, the city has fined Kaufman’s mother, Delores Kaufman, $125 a day since August of 2023. The collective fines are now approaching $75,000.

When Walser spoke with Dolores Kaufman, she said she was aware of the situation with the fines and code violations, but also shared that she doesn’t have any idea how to resolve it.

“I own the house but I can't do anything other than have him get rid of it,” she says. “He's the one who brings it all in, not me.”

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What rights do the neighbors have?

Kaufman’s neighbors are understandably upset that this situation has been drawn out for nearly two years, but unfortunately, there isn’t much else that they can do.

"It’s a hard challenge due to the fact that state law only allows us to do so much,” says Tarpon Springs Major Taurean Mathis, a spokesperson for the city's code enforcement. “I just ask that they [the neighbors] continue to work with us and let us do the right thing and let us do it the proper way."

And while Major Mathis’ words don’t offer the neighbors much hope, Ramirez and the other concerned neighbors have done everything right with regards to Kaufman’s mother’s yard. In fact, anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation with a trash-collecting neighbor should follow the steps that Ramirez took.

• Step 1: File a complaint with the city. This will get the ball rolling as it alerts the city of the situation. City officials will then perform an investigation and the trash-collecting neighbor will be put on notice. This will start to put some pressure on the neighbor to clean up their yard, and if that doesn’t work, the city may be inclined to issue fines, adding even more pressure to the situation.

• Step 2: File a report with the police. This will escalate the situation while allowing the authorities to take action if it’s needed, like when the police removed the doors from all of Kaufman’s appliances due to concern about local children potentially getting locked inside. If your trash-collecting neighbor didn’t feel the pressure from the city’s officials, a visit from the police may be enough to prompt the neighbor into action.

• Step 3: Alert your local news network. If steps one and two prove to be unsuccessful, contact your local news network and see if it may be interested in covering your story. Exposing your neighbor’s yard on TV could add even more pressure to the situation and may spurn the neighbor into action.