“Is it better to admit with explanation or fight it?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Erin

“Dear PoPville,

I recently purchased a fixer upper home in Kingman park and received a trash violation in the mail from Feb 8th. The violation is pretty concerning to me, first of all because my crew working on the house takes the trash every evening to the dump. We do this to avoid trash piling up in the backyard. The photos were taken around 12:30, when the crew was most likely at lunch and so by evening the trash that I am being cited for was gone.

Second it is clear from the photos that the inspector walked into my gated backyard. When I first moved into the home I had a short gate that was leaning over but stood up and was closed every evening. I don’t know if the crew left it open when they went to lunch, but it was definitely closed before I went to bed. I am a single female and always check to make sure my gates are closed and locked as well as my doors. Are inspectors allowed to enter your property with no one present for a trash violation?

What has been readers success in fighting these types of violations? I imagine a hearing will be a he said/she said issue. Is it better to admit with explanation or fight it?”