Ramsinghs sue Key West to force property code hearing

Rajindhar Ramsingh and his wife, Deborah, have taken Key West to court to force a code-enforcement hearing over alleged property violations tied to their Harris Avenue home. The lawsuit puts the city’s enforcement system on the spot because Ramsingh once served as Key West’s chief building official, and now the former top building officer is asking the city to move his own case forward.

The filing centers on procedure as much as property. The Ramsinghs want the city to schedule a hearing on the allegations rather than leave the matter stalled in the code-enforcement process, a fight that touches the basic question of how Key West applies its rules when the person challenging them used to oversee the building department.

The dispute arrives after months of turmoil at City Hall. A Monroe County grand jury released a report on May 29, 2025, recommending reforms to planning, building and code-enforcement practices in Key West. The report described “a pervasive culture of negligence, nepotism, manipulation and abdication of duty” at City Hall, deepening scrutiny of the city’s development and enforcement systems.

City leaders later held a special City Commission meeting on June 25, 2025, to discuss the report and its 27 recommendations. The city’s response page says staff have been tracking progress on the recommended action items and their responses, as officials tried to show that the government was taking the findings seriously.

The Ramsinghs’ lawsuit also lands against the backdrop of earlier enforcement moves on the Harris Avenue property. City officials had already sent a certified letter to the couple about permitting and inspection issues, and later reporting said Key West was moving to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy for the home. Those steps raised the stakes for the hearing request, because the city’s next actions could affect whether the property remains in compliance.

For Monroe County residents, the case carries broader weight than a single parcel in Key West. It tests whether code-enforcement power can be applied consistently and transparently when the person under scrutiny is a former senior official who once helped run the system. In a city still trying to repair trust after the grand jury’s findings, the Ramsingh lawsuit has become another measure of whether local rules are enforced the same way for everyone.