And whoever surveyed the property if the guy put the pool on what he thought was his property. Now, if he was taking advantage that there wasn't anything back there and decided to put a pool in, that won't fly.
The title company issued a title policy on the property the people purchased. The people did not purchase the 20 foot wide strip which is the subject of this story. They may WISH they owned the property. They may have ASSUMED they owned the property. However, that is what surveys are for. The guy with the pool has a survey. Has anyone asked him to show it? Mrs. Behnken, why don't you present the survey(s) in your reporting, so that your audience may be able to see just how 'unclear' they are?
The title company probably issued a footage, these home owners were all made aware of their lot size and boundary. These purchasers are vastly intelligent in their pursuits. The news is spinning this into negativity, in reality all participants have a positive outcome.
@@counterpointreporting3553 Buying a house you need to make sure with the survey, title company, maybe the assessor. It's the homeowners fault he didn't where his property ended.
@@-Nick-T If you mean square footage of real estate was probably issued by title companies, no I disagree sir. The primary function of title companies is confirming clear title of a particular description of real estate. The 20 foot wide strip was not included in what the homeowners purchased. Once a title company confirms there are no liens, and that the legitimate owner is selling a given property they issue title insurance. So, no a title company does not issue footage, if I understand your comment correctly.
Has the Land Trust asked for any money? If so, lets see some documentation of that, Mrs. Behnken. How is anyone being extorted? If they would behave as if they do not own the property (which they don't), the whole 'problem' may potentially be resolved. They may WISH they owned the property. They may have ASSUMED they owned the property. However, that is what surveys are for. The guy with the pool has a survey. Has anyone asked him to show it? Mrs. Behnken, why don't you present the survey(s) in your reporting, so that your audience may be able to see just how 'unclear' they are?
@@counterpointreporting3553 depends on the laws of those areas, but typicially lets say if the access to a property and either through silence or verbal agreement, long term uncontested use is often seen as granting permission to use that as an easement or right of access. The threat to put in a convenience store to block access sounds ilegal as it is a threat to deny access to ppls property. The deedful owner of that access may demand recompence for its use, but they cannot usually just deny them access to their own property if there is no other form of frontage or alternative access.
Pasco County followed a process which is spelled out by Florida Statute when they sold this property. They had NO choice except to do exactly what they did.
@Julia Weber Pasco County followed a process which is spelled out by Florida Statute when they sold this property. They had NO choice except to do exactly what they did.
You mean the county/city can’t come up with $4000 to just buy this road and settle this once and for all? Maybe the property owners don’t want that either? Where are the utilities running, are they hooked up to city water and sewer? This really seems like a third world problem.
Easement rights, for the most part, only cover houses and the property the house is on. Unfortunately not roadways. That's how so many roads are still privately owned
Most states have some provision like that. I'd be surprised if this state doesn't. But there could be something in their deeds about use of the private road, and maybe having to pay it. Or maybe they're actually on leased land. Who knows. We're definitely not hearing the whole story. In many states each lot would own to the center of the road and the road would be an easement, so as the lots get sold, the original owner eventually doesn't own any of the road, and it doesn't exist as a separate parcel that could be sold. Don't know about this state's laws and rules.
@@jpmacoo I've seen it in FL where the residents own to the center of a rear service alley (usually 10' wide) and they can each claim 5' of it, when/if the municipality abandons their right of way over the easement. The front streets, which usually have the utilities under them, belong to the municipality some short time after the plot plan or subdivision plan is approved, and sometimes just after the builder makes the initial install of the road and utilities, then the municipality takes it over, and the homeowners never own the front road themselves.
When you buy a house get the land surveyed. If you find a commonly used accessway is not yours or is not public property, either do not buy that property or apply for an easement.
There's always a crook looking to take advantage of others. The "mystery" Trust purchased both properties knowing this would harm the homeowners at some point. Legal or not, they went into this with bad intentions. Clearly they knew this was dirty otherwise why would they hide their identities?
The case with the road shows the stupidity of the local state and council laws as in my state there's a legal requirement for all properties to have access to a public road. In many cases this means legal access over a private road on private property and that access can not be interfered with. In the great majority of cases these situations result from someone sub-dividing the property. I'd look into the ownership history of the land the houses off the road are on. Here, if you sub-develop and area and sell house blocks off a road you put in to give access to those lots once you have more than two properties you're required by law to cede ownership of the private road to the local authorities for them to make it a public road. The fact that private road was never made a public road means that whoever did the subdivision and advertised the lots for sale committed a fraud. The county are also at fault and should be sued for putting the access road up for tax sale instead of sub-summing it into their public road system.
This is not new. Normally each home will have access to an easement (the road) documented on their titles, else there would never have been a legal way to access the house when it was built. The easement would allow each homeowner and their guests the legal right to use the private road to access their property. Not sure why this wasn't even discussed in the news report.
In the early 2000's we bought a warehouse from my father-in-law and it was behind his house and next to 2 family houses. We could not purchase it for a residence until 3 family members deeded a 'driveway' to the warehouse even though we would never use that part of the properties to get to the back as there was an existing road. This is in NC. They told us eventually a family member will block access to your property so there has to be a way to your house not owned by someone else.
@@TEverettReynolds it's possible here, and I don't like this reporting, that each homeowner had a deeded easement to/over the access road, but the property over which the easement ran was privately owned by the now deceased man, and so the property could be lost for unpaid taxes. I would think some kind of law would require or allow for municipal interference since FL has lots of consumer/citizen protection laws not found in other states. I think a lot fell through the cracks here, and the story is BS trying to drum up fury over a company abiding by the law while other multiple parties were asleep at the wheel, including the reporter. She kept calling the land trust mysterious, just because the owners never invited her to tea, when they each presented upon her their calling cards for her approval.
I remember when this happened. Don’t remember them taking a video of the road tho. We all were dumbfounded when we got letters in the mail and all pitched in to buy it back. My grandmas house has been there since 1973 so it was a little of a shock.
Our last house was a new single family home development with an existing older home whose owner used to own the entire parcel. Behind our house and three others was a 16 foot strip of land that blended into our properties at the back end. No fence or anything and most people did not understand that it wasn't theirs. One guy cleared his and then he went hog wild and cleared the land beyond it and pissed off an old lady that lived back there. People are so clueless about property ownership. The guy across the street from me was an HOA Karen type personality and wanted me to clear the vegetation in the portion of the 16 foot strip behind my home but I refused and he had to suck it up as the strip was not a part of the HOA common area nor was it mine (but I did get to enjoy additional screening vegetation and standoff from the older home behind us). The builder acted strangely unaware of this strip of land that went all the way to an adjacent new development project further away and it was uniquely left off their land acquisition and was originally a planned private road that was never built (made me suspicious). I suspected someone had it earmarked for purchase to erect potential 5G cell towers right behind out 1/4 acre lot homes. But since we moved I don't have to worry about it anymore. No one spelled it out for me either - I had to study the survey, the plat for the development and the county tax records to see that this strip of land was owned by a holding company (a bank), not mine, not the HOA or the people behind us.
Yeah, what property lawyer allowed them to buy a house without a right-of-way to access it. You can't tell me every single homeowner didn't get a survey and deed check done. Seem fishy to me.
Well according to the law you cannot barr somebody from using the road to get to their house. If someone owns land directly behind your property and there is no way to get through to it without driving through 20 acres of somebody else's you cannot legally stop them. You can actually call the cops and they'll bust down any fences or Gates they put up to prevent you from going there.
I think you mean by adverse possession. If they had legal access via a right of way, the 20 years (and in many states it's only 7-10 years) would only START after the person's (dead man's) estate was settled. Three years of delinquent taxes is enough for the land trust to have acquired title, thus squeezing out the residents before adverse possession could be claimed. I do agree something fell through the cracks here...like some state law protecting the homeowners was missing.
@@untermench3502 Yes. I was thinking after that I wonder if the residents could have appealed to the county to take the right of way land under eminent domain and thus preserve their rights of access. I bet they would have had a strong case!
It looks to me like that investment company is illegally stealing electricity for their pool from that homeowner they’re harassing... if I were that homeowner I would sue the investment company for stealing electricity but would offer to settle if they just forfeit the land.... (Lol)
You would lose and be getting countersued. How well do you think it would work in court when they asked 1. Who installed the pool/ paid for installation of the pool?.The homeowner. Who maintains the pool on a daily basis? The homeowner. Who uses the pool on a daily basis? The homeowner. How about this you pay $750 for a basic survey so you know what your buying. These homeowners property lines have never changed, they assumed they we’re buying more property than was on the deed. Your an idiot if you don’t due your due diligence on a lifetime investment of $1 million plus.
This is the same tactic used by companies that buy patents and sue for infringement of intellectual property. They don't create or produce anything they just sue. People get a survey of your property done and if you don't own what you thought you did find the owner and make a deal. What looks suspicious here is that 20 foot strip looks like an easement.
Either a easement that the original owner had for something or land that no one wanted. We have several in are area that was like this old worthless ground that no one wanted but someone brought it and then years later you got to figure out who owns it.
Damn this story hits serious levels of adminisrtrative monkeyball madness! Some people where deliberately doing this either out of shame for failing at their job, just making money or shady politics.
City, county and state have nothing to do with the homeowners' ignorance of what they were actually buying. The homeowners "assumed" - and the old phrase is "Assume makes an ass out of you and me".
@@timmoore6055 I agree: "buyer beware." When you buy a property nowadays, there is always a "surprise," even for the most discerning buyer. You can only hope to minimize the degree and severity of the surprises.
I thought once a road was used it became a legal right of way. The road to their homes should have been stated on their deeds as a right of way or whatever the term is. On our deed it clearly states a 16ft (wide) right of way from the main hwy to our driveway and to not be blocked. The County maintains it to our property gate.
Rules are different in different states and even counties. I've heard Florida has particularly difficult easement laws. Lawyers like this. Keeps them in business.
I wonder if it would have been cheaper or even feasible to have paved their front yards about 10 ft from the curb essentially making a single lane on each side of the trust's property/road. It's funny that these trusts are anonymous.
@@brianhaflin9799 It is a just a strip of asphalt and since it's privately owned the city doesn't maintain it which means they probably have septic tanks. If they didn't pay the trust they threatened to put a convenience store which is ironic since the purpose would have been to inconvenience the home owners by forcing them to drive through their yards. There isn't any drainage system for stormwater. The water runoff goes into their yards which wouldn't be affected by gravel roads on both sides. They would have to be one way so the house at the end would have to have enough space for a culdesac. It would be similar to streets with medians.
@@johnunsicker7440 They might have even sued for the county to take the road through eminent domain, but I think what they paid was a cheaper way to go actually.
When my dad made an offer on a mobile home and lot i had to call an inspector to inspect the structure, if i hadn’t done that, and subsequently discovered the water damage and black mold growing all over the place, he would have been responsible for what he purchased if the sale had gone thru, how does anonymous trust avoid such responsibilities?
@@duncreg As if your ad hominem contributes anything. As a matter of fact, your choice to resort to name calling instead of challenging my statement only bolsters my claim.
@@thomas6591 There's nothing of intelligence to challenge. You didn't post a legal argument regarding land use and right of way easements; you made an antisemitic remark. And apparently you can't take as well as you give.
@@duncreg If I can't take as well as I give, then why am I calm while you're crying about antisemitism? Also, you don't start sentences with "And" since you want to be pedantic.
@@joshusavage5100 The roadway on a survey would have shown that it wasn't public, but privately owned... A public records search would have shown it too...
For the Road. Try to get everyone's Land Redone so it would include a small Portion of the Road that they would be Responsible for. If the Road is say 30 feet wide. make each person own like 15 feet of it and include it in homeowners Home Title. but have it as It is a Roadway Easement for All Residents and Can not be removed/torn up. But Homeowner's Section can be Repaved sealed or repaired.
I can tell you that if someone said, "we own this strip of your back yard, we can trespass you and do whatever we want with it," I would say, fine with me. I'll build a new fence on the property line and I'll no longer mow that strip since I don't own it. Have fun with that.
Why exactly is it a shame? It sounds like you agree that these homeowners are victims. Maybe they are consciously using property which is owned by someone else, without permission. Of course, MANY people want bigger yards. Most just don't steal it. If they want it, there may be a way to acquire it. Has anyone made a formal offer to the Land Trust? Here is an idea, Mrs. Behnken; Why don't you formally convey an offer on the part of the people who WISH they owned the property? Stop bullying the legal owners of the property by portraying them as aggressors.
@@counterpointreporting3553 Maybe you should watch the story. It stated that the man in question made 2 offers, and BOTH were rejected. Just because you put flowers in an asshole does NOT make it a vase. Don't try to spin that the bastards were being the good guys. They aren't .
The Wayne county treasurer literally has his family buy homes at auction which is illegal they don’t even send me my original tax payment they wait a year later and send me a delinquent one saying I got a month-2months to pay it or I lose my house it’s happened two years in a row before I would always get them in the mail now he took over I only get late ones in the mail pretty shady
A friends family spent $$$ to get access to her ranch that the family had owned for 90+ years. New neighbor put a fence up blocking a gate, because they didn't think anyone lived on the 950 acre property. It was a back entrance that wasn't used everyday.
Here's what you do. Use your own property as your access and no longer maintain the road. Then when the road just happens to start accumulating trash, abandoned cars, old appliances call the city to enforce a cleanup which he will either have to do or pay someone else to do it.
Honestly these are the times that everyone should band together and sue the county for not disclosing this tax sale to the owners beforehand. After all these residents pay taxes to the county and the least they could do is give these residents a chance to buy it before shit like this happens.
Heck the county shouldn’t allow development along a “privately owned” strip of land since that technically leaves those homes without road access. Multiple failures along the way.
I’ll bet you a private investigator could find out the identities of those behind it. Pearlman, as the only public face of this anonymous monster is putting his own life in danger. This sounds like something people in the know would do, like real estate people, it should be flat out illegal, to remain anonymous if their actions directly affects the livelihood of others.
All these persons have a grand father clause argument. I have a neighbor that gained easement property, because He used it for many years unchallenged.
I question how the city issued building permits for those houses with no easement. How did the homes get assigned addresses on a street that isn't a street? Who named the street? Who put up the street sign, who paved it in the first place? This is on the city. Sue sue sue!! One million dollars!! Each!!
The title company and the plat set forth what the homeowner bought. The plat showed the boundaries; the homeowner was not aware of what the actual boundaries were. There likely were iron markers in the ground setting out the corners, but the owners never looked for them, but "assumed".
Could fix that easement owner right quick, start having accidents hisproperty,every accident he is liable for......he would be giving me it just to stop.
@@brianhaflin9799 lol maybe you didn't get what I meant, or don't understand property law, you take them to court after the "accident" its shared property and he's liable and sue the sneaky out of him, I'd open up my backyard to deliberately remove my fence, use it for parking or allow access to strangers to our shared property, let some shifty folks in, and use basic torture under the guise of defeat until he regretted it.
FYI to the victims of this scam. If any person should slip or fall on any hazards on this ingratitude property they could sue this trust for 100 times more than the trust payed. Also it is the trust owners responsibility. To maintain the property cleaning up trash waste oilspills bio hazards etc... just saying fight fire with nukes.
That was my first thought, and then I decided I would go deeper. I didn't see a fence around that swimming pool, is it properly grounded, is there a handicap ramp? I would build violations and then call the city inspector and let the tickets fly. Hell, if that's an association, that property owner is bound by association rules so stop cutting the fucking grass and plant non-association approved plants. Is that person paying homeowners association dues? Doesn't matter if you own a home or not you still own the plot, you got to pay. Have the HOA foreclose on them.
@@rivermcratt3683 There was another story like this where someone did something very similar, It didn't work out too well because the property owner was doing daily checks on their land. Remember that it is not illegal in most places to fly a drone over your own property.
Isn’t this the shit you pay for before you buy a home? Who is responsible for researching this stuff before you are able to take the mortgage out on a home? They are the ones that should be making sure the land you are buying has no liens and the property lines are accurate. I’d sue the company that fucked that up and the city.
In Australia, where people have been given permission to use land, it may, in time, legally become a right of use. When persons use private land for more than 12 to 15 years, without permission, they can claim adverse possession of the land. The precedent is in British law. As Australians use US law as a precedent, it seems to me that the US should investigate the same. We say' "One does not get justice from the courts, one simply gets an interpretation from the law."
Regarding the strip of land between the neighborhood houses, each of those property owners should go back and review their original escrow documents to show exactly how big the lot was, and where it stops. If the parcel documents do not indicate a backyard area in question, each of the landowners could be entitled to Rebate on some of their property tax. I would think there would be some kind of recourse against the realtor for not disclosing that that section was not available for personal use as part of the property.
Who are these people that buy a house with absolutely no idea where their property lines are. 15 minutes in county records office or probate court and you get a map that matches a deed. Then figure it out at the house. I know where my property line is to the inch.
We're by law if a person doesn't pay hes taxes for a long time is legal for others to buy property thru a court agreement cause one's that person don't pay they loose there right.
Same thing happened to my folks Over a period of time we were able to but a tract of land beside our house. It had been divided amongst several children and it took a while for the last one to sell. Later on a guy stopped buy and told my dad that he owned a strip of land about 20 ft wide so we had to pay him $500 for that piece. It actually is part of the power Co right of way but still we had to buy it.
I mean the smart thing to do would be to sell it to the local city is in to make a permanent easement out of it but instead criminals took advantage of a loophole and forced people to pay the price. Even now that the residents on the private road they should consider selling it to the city to make it a permanent easement and to save them selves cost of maintaining it.
Oh, and you may have access since you have used this property everyday for at least 7 years. In order for a land owner to maintain control of his/her property that is used as an egress is to totally shut it down for 1 day a year.
The homeowners need to contact the city about the issue and ask for a road easement on the property in front of their homes. 20 foot wide property and a 30 foot road easement would take care of the problem.
Someone needs to go down the rabbit 🐇 whole on these guys... Said it ,bought it...waiting... to take advantage. 💲💰💰 Giving One no choice. Is extortion. Ripping up street is threatening. Another Demon 😈
It would be a tragedy if all of those residents happened to be seriously injured while on the land trust owner’s property. 20 - 30 lawsuits just might change some minds. Ownership of land = responsibility for what happens on land…
The best thing to do would be for either the town or the county to step in and compensate all the homeowners who had to shell out money to purchase rights of way for their homes, which would in effect transfer ownership of the road to the town or county, just like the other 99% of all roads in this country. The government that owns the road would treat it like the rest of the roads in their jurisdiction with periodic maintenance and upkeep. This would also solve the problem of people selling their homes, moving away and/or dying. It would no longer be a private road and no one could ever claim ownership of it again. Ever.
THIS "818...Land Trust" also once purchased a lake behind several upscale homes by paying the delinquent taxes ($2340) of the land on which the lake is. A huge neon pink fence was errected along the shoreline (part of the lake) thus blocking views of the picturesque lake from the homes. The homeowners were then notified by mail that they would each have to pay $4000 to have the section of pink fence behind their home removed. Each of the 11 owners relented, and paid.
YEP! - It's a shame but some people spend their entire life rooting around looking for ways to scew anyone they can - for as much profit as possible. What's even worse is that the reason they get away with it is that there is usually a politician involved that makes a little on the side as well so nothing changes. Does the name Mitt Romney sound familiar? He made millions this way.
They have to form an hoa to hold the property or or each of them own a 1' wide section of the road, and an easement on the others 1' section and they have a maintenance agreement on the road.
It is illegal to not disclose property information to new home owner purchases. That attorney should be investigated on fraud, and disbarred.
And whoever surveyed the property if the guy put the pool on what he thought was his property.
Now, if he was taking advantage that there wasn't anything back there and decided to put a pool in, that won't fly.
The title company should be held liable for the backyard one.
The title company issued a title policy on the property the people purchased. The people did not purchase the 20 foot wide strip which is the subject of this story. They may WISH they owned the property. They may have ASSUMED they owned the property. However, that is what surveys are for. The guy with the pool has a survey. Has anyone asked him to show it? Mrs. Behnken, why don't you present the survey(s) in your reporting, so that your audience may be able to see just how 'unclear' they are?
The title company probably issued a footage, these home owners were all made aware of their lot size and boundary. These purchasers are vastly intelligent in their pursuits. The news is spinning this into negativity, in reality all participants have a positive outcome.
@@counterpointreporting3553 Buying a house you need to make sure with the survey, title company, maybe the assessor. It's the homeowners fault he didn't where his property ended.
@@-Nick-T If you mean square footage of real estate was probably issued by title companies, no I disagree sir. The primary function of title companies is confirming clear title of a particular description of real estate. The 20 foot wide strip was not included in what the homeowners purchased. Once a title company confirms there are no liens, and that the legitimate owner is selling a given property they issue title insurance. So, no a title company does not issue footage, if I understand your comment correctly.
CPR, you like to repeat yourself a lot, don’t you? 😂
They used to call that extortion.
I would look into squatters rights and easements.
Has the Land Trust asked for any money? If so, lets see some documentation of that, Mrs. Behnken. How is anyone being extorted? If they would behave as if they do not own the property (which they don't), the whole 'problem' may potentially be resolved. They may WISH they owned the property. They may have ASSUMED they owned the property. However, that is what surveys are for. The guy with the pool has a survey. Has anyone asked him to show it? Mrs. Behnken, why don't you present the survey(s) in your reporting, so that your audience may be able to see just how 'unclear' they are?
Why was this not disclosed when the property was initially purchased?
@@counterpointreporting3553 depends on the laws of those areas, but typicially lets say if the access to a property and either through silence or verbal agreement, long term uncontested use is often seen as granting permission to use that as an easement or right of access. The threat to put in a convenience store to block access sounds ilegal as it is a threat to deny access to ppls property. The deedful owner of that access may demand recompence for its use, but they cannot usually just deny them access to their own property if there is no other form of frontage or alternative access.
They used to call it, not doing due diligence when purchasing what you thought was your land and home.
@@counterpointreporting3553 😅😂🤣 how much does the attorney pay you?
The city/county is complicit in this fuckery. They ought to be sued.
Pasco County followed a process which is spelled out by Florida Statute when they sold this property. They had NO choice except to do exactly what they did.
@Julia Weber Pasco County followed a process which is spelled out by Florida Statute when they sold this property. They had NO choice except to do exactly what they did.
I also agree
You mean the county/city can’t come up with $4000 to just buy this road and settle this once and for all?
Maybe the property owners don’t want that either? Where are the utilities running, are they hooked up to city water and sewer? This really seems like a third world problem.
Bullets are cheaper
Lol it must be the lawyer’s company
The city development board should be held accountable! They should not have allowed this when the property was originally developed
The city itself may not have existed when it was done.
@@SSHitMan or out side of city limits...
What's shameful is the county assessor that let's this happen
All on the tajw
Why? Because you don’t like it? Too bad.
@@bokesnmokes why are both of these replies so stupid?
@@bokesnmokes Why so salty? Are you the scammer who bought that land?
@bokesnmokes they didn't tell the buyers
Good Lord and I thought Home Owners Associations were bad, takes the cake!
HOA's believe it or not, actually block BS like this.... but they can cause all kinds of other fuckery.
Can’t deny access to other people’s property, they have easement rights on that piece of road
Depends on the state
Easement rights, for the most part, only cover houses and the property the house is on. Unfortunately not roadways. That's how so many roads are still privately owned
Something needs looking into. Here in Florida the seller of land cannot landlock any property it sells. They have to provide access.
Most states have some provision like that. I'd be surprised if this state doesn't. But there could be something in their deeds about use of the private road, and maybe having to pay it. Or maybe they're actually on leased land. Who knows. We're definitely not hearing the whole story.
In many states each lot would own to the center of the road and the road would be an easement, so as the lots get sold, the original owner eventually doesn't own any of the road, and it doesn't exist as a separate parcel that could be sold. Don't know about this state's laws and rules.
@@jpmacoo I've seen it in FL where the residents own to the center of a rear service alley (usually 10' wide) and they can each claim 5' of it, when/if the municipality abandons their right of way over the easement. The front streets, which usually have the utilities under them, belong to the municipality some short time after the plot plan or subdivision plan is approved, and sometimes just after the builder makes the initial install of the road and utilities, then the municipality takes it over, and the homeowners never own the front road themselves.
When you buy a house get the land surveyed. If you find a commonly used accessway is not yours or is not public property, either do not buy that property or apply for an easement.
Bet the attorney is his own client.
Who wants to start off with the first lawyer joke? 😏
I would start off with his kneecaps, not joking.
There's always a crook looking to take advantage of others. The "mystery" Trust purchased both properties knowing this would harm the homeowners at some point. Legal or not, they went into this with bad intentions. Clearly they knew this was dirty otherwise why would they hide their identities?
I think I’m gonna name my next trust “the mysterious land trust”.
The case with the road shows the stupidity of the local state and council laws as in my state there's a legal requirement for all properties to have access to a public road. In many cases this means legal access over a private road on private property and that access can not be interfered with. In the great majority of cases these situations result from someone sub-dividing the property. I'd look into the ownership history of the land the houses off the road are on. Here, if you sub-develop and area and sell house blocks off a road you put in to give access to those lots once you have more than two properties you're required by law to cede ownership of the private road to the local authorities for them to make it a public road. The fact that private road was never made a public road means that whoever did the subdivision and advertised the lots for sale committed a fraud. The county are also at fault and should be sued for putting the access road up for tax sale instead of sub-summing it into their public road system.
Collusion. Criminals on zoning board.
This is not new. Normally each home will have access to an easement (the road) documented on their titles, else there would never have been a legal way to access the house when it was built. The easement would allow each homeowner and their guests the legal right to use the private road to access their property. Not sure why this wasn't even discussed in the news report.
In the early 2000's we bought a warehouse from my father-in-law and it was behind his house and next to 2 family houses. We could not purchase it for a residence until 3 family members deeded a 'driveway' to the warehouse even though we would never use that part of the properties to get to the back as there was an existing road. This is in NC. They told us eventually a family member will block access to your property so there has to be a way to your house not owned by someone else.
@@TEverettReynolds exactly. The reporting was stupid, lacking and poorly done.
@@TEverettReynolds it's possible here, and I don't like this reporting, that each homeowner had a deeded easement to/over the access road, but the property over which the easement ran was privately owned by the now deceased man, and so the property could be lost for unpaid taxes. I would think some kind of law would require or allow for municipal interference since FL has lots of consumer/citizen protection laws not found in other states. I think a lot fell through the cracks here, and the story is BS trying to drum up fury over a company abiding by the law while other multiple parties were asleep at the wheel, including the reporter. She kept calling the land trust mysterious, just because the owners never invited her to tea, when they each presented upon her their calling cards for her approval.
I remember when this happened. Don’t remember them taking a video of the road tho. We all were dumbfounded when we got letters in the mail and all pitched in to buy it back. My grandmas house has been there since 1973 so it was a little of a shock.
Our last house was a new single family home development with an existing older home whose owner used to own the entire parcel. Behind our house and three others was a 16 foot strip of land that blended into our properties at the back end. No fence or anything and most people did not understand that it wasn't theirs. One guy cleared his and then he went hog wild and cleared the land beyond it and pissed off an old lady that lived back there. People are so clueless about property ownership. The guy across the street from me was an HOA Karen type personality and wanted me to clear the vegetation in the portion of the 16 foot strip behind my home but I refused and he had to suck it up as the strip was not a part of the HOA common area nor was it mine (but I did get to enjoy additional screening vegetation and standoff from the older home behind us). The builder acted strangely unaware of this strip of land that went all the way to an adjacent new development project further away and it was uniquely left off their land acquisition and was originally a planned private road that was never built (made me suspicious). I suspected someone had it earmarked for purchase to erect potential 5G cell towers right behind out 1/4 acre lot homes. But since we moved I don't have to worry about it anymore. No one spelled it out for me either - I had to study the survey, the plat for the development and the county tax records to see that this strip of land was owned by a holding company (a bank), not mine, not the HOA or the people behind us.
If the private road had easements, they couldn’t build on it.
Yeah, what property lawyer allowed them to buy a house without a right-of-way to access it. You can't tell me every single homeowner didn't get a survey and deed check done. Seem fishy to me.
SET BACK...
So no one who bought a home here looked at the land survey? #bs, they didn't want to look or the title company didn't do their job.
I just want to say you guys are doing a great and awesome job and giving people their voices back
I don't know what the statute of limitations on land is in Florida, but in Maine, if you use the land for 20 years, you can claim ownership.
Well according to the law you cannot barr somebody from using the road to get to their house. If someone owns land directly behind your property and there is no way to get through to it without driving through 20 acres of somebody else's you cannot legally stop them. You can actually call the cops and they'll bust down any fences or Gates they put up to prevent you from going there.
I think you mean by adverse possession. If they had legal access via a right of way, the 20 years (and in many states it's only 7-10 years) would only START after the person's (dead man's) estate was settled. Three years of delinquent taxes is enough for the land trust to have acquired title, thus squeezing out the residents before adverse possession could be claimed. I do agree something fell through the cracks here...like some state law protecting the homeowners was missing.
@@CuriousEarthMan
Yes, adverse posession.
@@untermench3502 Yes. I was thinking after that I wonder if the residents could have appealed to the county to take the right of way land under eminent domain and thus preserve their rights of access. I bet they would have had a strong case!
@@CuriousEarthMan
I think it's a money issue to hire a good attourney.
The real estate agencies should have made sure the property survey was clear and clean and the land was there prior to selling
It looks to me like that investment company is illegally stealing electricity for their pool from that homeowner they’re harassing... if I were that homeowner I would sue the investment company for stealing electricity but would offer to settle if they just forfeit the land.... (Lol)
You would lose and be getting countersued. How well do you think it would work in court when they asked 1. Who installed the pool/ paid for installation of the pool?.The homeowner. Who maintains the pool on a daily basis? The homeowner. Who uses the pool on a daily basis? The homeowner. How about this you pay $750 for a basic survey so you know what your buying. These homeowners property lines have never changed, they assumed they we’re buying more property than was on the deed. Your an idiot if you don’t due your due diligence on a lifetime investment of $1 million plus.
This is the same tactic used by companies that buy patents and sue for infringement of intellectual property.
They don't create or produce anything they just sue.
People get a survey of your property done and if you don't own what you thought you did find the owner and make a deal.
What looks suspicious here is that 20 foot strip looks like an easement.
Either a easement that the original owner had for something or land that no one wanted. We have several in are area that was like this old worthless ground that no one wanted but someone brought it and then years later you got to figure out who owns it.
If the house has been there for more than 20 years, sue for adverse posession
Damn this story hits serious levels of adminisrtrative monkeyball madness! Some people where deliberately doing this either out of shame for failing at their job, just making money or shady politics.
Well things like this seem to happen when we elect the scum in our city, county and state government.
City, county and state have nothing to do with the homeowners' ignorance of what they were actually buying. The homeowners "assumed" - and the old phrase is "Assume makes an ass out of you and me".
@@timmoore6055 I agree: "buyer beware." When you buy a property nowadays, there is always a "surprise," even for the most discerning buyer. You can only hope to minimize the degree and severity of the surprises.
Sue the city and the owner. Do deed searches as far back to the sell of property. It's public information.
Probably county assessor
Township Boys & Gurls..
I thought once a road was used it became a legal right of way. The road to their homes should have been stated on their deeds as a right of way or whatever the term is. On our deed it clearly states a 16ft (wide) right of way from the main hwy to our driveway and to not be blocked. The County maintains it to our property gate.
Rules are different in different states and even counties. I've heard Florida has particularly difficult easement laws. Lawyers like this. Keeps them in business.
I wonder if it would have been cheaper or even feasible to have paved their front yards about 10 ft from the curb essentially making a single lane on each side of the trust's property/road. It's funny that these trusts are anonymous.
You would than be messing up stormwater and sewer systems as well as making it hard for emergency vehicles.
@@brianhaflin9799 It is a just a strip of asphalt and since it's privately owned the city doesn't maintain it which means they probably have septic tanks. If they didn't pay the trust they threatened to put a convenience store which is ironic since the purpose would have been to inconvenience the home owners by forcing them to drive through their yards. There isn't any drainage system for stormwater. The water runoff goes into their yards which wouldn't be affected by gravel roads on both sides. They would have to be one way so the house at the end would have to have enough space for a culdesac. It would be similar to streets with medians.
@@J55S YOu have never put a driveway in have you? IT would cost then way more then $4,000 to do a road.
@@johnunsicker7440 They might have even sued for the county to take the road through eminent domain, but I think what they paid was a cheaper way to go actually.
J. N. Perlman is the owner and is pulling highway robbery!
When my dad made an offer on a mobile home and lot i had to call an inspector to inspect the structure, if i hadn’t done that, and subsequently discovered the water damage and black mold growing all over the place, he would have been responsible for what he purchased if the sale had gone thru, how does anonymous trust avoid such responsibilities?
They avoid it via nepotism. "Perlman" being a dead giveaway.
@@thomas6591 If you're not going to contribute anything useful, Adolph, best not to post.
@@duncreg As if your ad hominem contributes anything. As a matter of fact, your choice to resort to name calling instead of challenging my statement only bolsters my claim.
@@thomas6591 There's nothing of intelligence to challenge. You didn't post a legal argument regarding land use and right of way easements; you made an antisemitic remark. And apparently you can't take as well as you give.
@@duncreg If I can't take as well as I give, then why am I calm while you're crying about antisemitism?
Also, you don't start sentences with "And" since you want to be pedantic.
How did none of these homeowners do a deed title search and survey when they bought the property? I always done it when I buy property...
Thought it was mandatory.
For the backyard problem that should have been self-evident but the road way? Does anyone check to see who owns the road?
@@joshusavage5100 The roadway on a survey would have shown that it wasn't public, but privately owned... A public records search would have shown it too...
Easements though
For the Road. Try to get everyone's Land Redone so it would include a small Portion of the Road that they would be Responsible for. If the Road is say 30 feet wide. make each person own like 15 feet of it and include it in homeowners Home Title. but have it as It is a Roadway Easement for All Residents and Can not be removed/torn up. But Homeowner's Section can be Repaved sealed or repaired.
I can tell you that if someone said, "we own this strip of your back yard, we can trespass you and do whatever we want with it," I would say, fine with me. I'll build a new fence on the property line and I'll no longer mow that strip since I don't own it. Have fun with that.
Wow! Perfectly legal. What a shame.
Why exactly is it a shame? It sounds like you agree that these homeowners are victims. Maybe they are consciously using property which is owned by someone else, without permission. Of course, MANY people want bigger yards. Most just don't steal it. If they want it, there may be a way to acquire it. Has anyone made a formal offer to the Land Trust? Here is an idea, Mrs. Behnken; Why don't you formally convey an offer on the part of the people who WISH they owned the property? Stop bullying the legal owners of the property by portraying them as aggressors.
@@counterpointreporting3553 Maybe you should watch the story. It stated that the man in question made 2 offers, and BOTH were rejected. Just because you put flowers in an asshole does NOT make it a vase. Don't try to spin that the bastards were being the good guys. They aren't .
Bets are it’s a employee of the government with inside knowledge or…..
It’s the very city/county itself…..
Exactly! They probably bought those pieces of land so cheap too
The Wayne county treasurer literally has his family buy homes at auction which is illegal they don’t even send me my original tax payment they wait a year later and send me a delinquent one saying I got a month-2months to pay it or I lose my house it’s happened two years in a row before I would always get them in the mail now he took over I only get late ones in the mail pretty shady
A friends family spent $$$ to get access to her ranch that the family had owned for 90+ years. New neighbor put a fence up blocking a gate, because they didn't think anyone lived on the 950 acre property. It was a back entrance that wasn't used everyday.
Buyer beware, it’s why we did the first survey in 100 years in our county in our new farm.
Here's what you do. Use your own property as your access and no longer maintain the road. Then when the road just happens to start accumulating trash, abandoned cars, old appliances call the city to enforce a cleanup which he will either have to do or pay someone else to do it.
This land trust did them a favor
This is why you should always get your land surveyed “before” you purchase the land.
I agree. If any of them got mortgage loans from ordinary lenders, a survey would have been required commonly.
Honestly these are the times that everyone should band together and sue the county for not disclosing this tax sale to the owners beforehand. After all these residents pay taxes to the county and the least they could do is give these residents a chance to buy it before shit like this happens.
Heck the county shouldn’t allow development along a “privately owned” strip of land since that technically leaves those homes without road access. Multiple failures along the way.
the sale was surely advertised. They aren't required to tell the neighbors directly.
I'd sur my real-estate agent
I’ll bet you a private investigator could find out the identities of those behind it. Pearlman, as the only public face of this anonymous monster is putting his own life in danger. This sounds like something people in the know would do, like real estate people, it should be flat out illegal, to remain anonymous if their actions directly affects the livelihood of others.
All these persons have a grand father clause argument.
I have a neighbor that gained easement property, because He used it for many years unchallenged.
Now it all makes sense, the landowner is a modern-day real estate entrepreneur. God bless Florida and the crazies that live there.
I question how the city issued building permits for those houses with no easement. How did the homes get assigned addresses on a street that isn't a street? Who named the street? Who put up the street sign, who paved it in the first place? This is on the city. Sue sue sue!! One million dollars!! Each!!
These owners should have gone after their title companies who failed to disclose this when they purchased those homes.
The title company and the plat set forth what the homeowner bought. The plat showed the boundaries; the homeowner was not aware of what the actual boundaries were. There likely were iron markers in the ground setting out the corners, but the owners never looked for them, but "assumed".
this is morally wrong on every level
Could fix that easement owner right quick, start having accidents hisproperty,every accident he is liable for......he would be giving me it just to stop.
Until they take you to court and you are battling it out how the property owner is at fault.
@@brianhaflin9799 lol maybe you didn't get what I meant, or don't understand property law, you take them to court after the "accident" its shared property and he's liable and sue the sneaky out of him, I'd open up my backyard to deliberately remove my fence, use it for parking or allow access to strangers to our shared property, let some shifty folks in, and use basic torture under the guise of defeat until he regretted it.
FYI to the victims of this scam. If any person should slip or fall on any hazards on this ingratitude property they could sue this trust for 100 times more than the trust payed. Also it is the trust owners responsibility. To maintain the property cleaning up trash waste oilspills bio hazards etc... just saying fight fire with nukes.
That was my first thought, and then I decided I would go deeper. I didn't see a fence around that swimming pool, is it properly grounded, is there a handicap ramp? I would build violations and then call the city inspector and let the tickets fly. Hell, if that's an association, that property owner is bound by association rules so stop cutting the fucking grass and plant non-association approved plants. Is that person paying homeowners association dues? Doesn't matter if you own a home or not you still own the plot, you got to pay. Have the HOA foreclose on them.
@@rivermcratt3683 There was another story like this where someone did something very similar, It didn't work out too well because the property owner was doing daily checks on their land. Remember that it is not illegal in most places to fly a drone over your own property.
As for the backyard properties. It is land locked, and you have zero access through their properties, so tuff cookies for the land trust.
It’s def not land locked, there is road access. There is a lot more this story than what they reported.
How embarrassing for the county letting this happen. Hopefully the county didn't forget to collect the property taxes.
So if that's a private road? Who is taking care of the road the city? If the city was taking care of the road then it's the city's Road
I buy Land or a Home...I check the whole area up and Down..To and Fro..
What a shock, a scumbag lawyer doesn't have a problem holding people ransom
Isn’t this the shit you pay for before you buy a home? Who is responsible for researching this stuff before you are able to take the mortgage out on a home? They are the ones that should be making sure the land you are buying has no liens and the property lines are accurate. I’d sue the company that fucked that up and the city.
Disgusting greed and cruelty.
In Australia, where people have been given permission to use land, it may, in time, legally become a right of use.
When persons use private land for more than 12 to 15 years, without permission, they can claim adverse possession of the land.
The precedent is in British law.
As Australians use US law as a precedent, it seems to me that the US should investigate the same.
We say' "One does not get justice from the courts, one simply gets an interpretation from the law."
Wow, what chicanery this is. That's ridiculous and seems highly illegal. A heads up for the homeowners would've been great.
Regarding the strip of land between the neighborhood houses, each of those property owners should go back and review their original escrow documents to show exactly how big the lot was, and where it stops. If the parcel documents do not indicate a backyard area in question, each of the landowners could be entitled to Rebate on some of their property tax.
I would think there would be some kind of recourse against the realtor for not disclosing that that section was not available for personal use as part of the property.
City code enforcement would tell the "land trust" to take a hike". Land zoned as residential cannot have businesses
using it as commercial property.
It can be changed.
That depends on the issue at hand. Sadly, So often paperwork and deeds are so messed up that city and state don't want to enter the dispute.
This money scam is happening everyday here in America. These people are making millions upon millions of dollars from doing this.
This is legal extortion which should not be legal!
That is despicable.
This IS EXTREMELY EVIL THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD THEY ALL BETTER DO A LIVING TRUST ASAP
Go talk to the city a sign over the land for the road.
What a jerk that guy is. I hope that the man takes him to court and if any of his cattle die, the jerky neighbor should pay for it.
Who was occupyiing and paying taxes on it , this needs it be investigated by a higher legal authority ,like the state AG
Who are these people that buy a house with absolutely no idea where their property lines are. 15 minutes in county records office or probate court and you get a map that matches a deed. Then figure it out at the house. I know where my property line is to the inch.
We're by law if a person doesn't pay hes taxes for a long time is legal for others to buy property thru a court agreement cause one's that person don't pay they loose there right.
CHECK AND SEE WHO BEEN PAYING TAX ON THAT LAND SEE WHAT COUNTY SAY IS YOUR PROPERTY LINE
I love this lady!!!
Same thing happened to my folks Over a period of time we were able to but a tract of land beside our house. It had been divided amongst several children and it took a while for the last one to sell. Later on a guy stopped buy and told my dad that he owned a strip of land about 20 ft wide so we had to pay him $500 for that piece. It actually is part of the power Co right of way but still we had to buy it.
Any state that I have been in has a county assessor with parcel maps. You should look at it and verify it when you are buying a property.
Same thing happened in Presidio Terrace in San Francisco
Title insurance insures what the property is by deed. Surveyors determine where the property is , on the ground.
They are willing to pay because they are held hostage ..The love of money is the root to all evil
Sounds like the city should be held accountable they're the ones allowing this to happen.
County did not notify occupant? Gee, what about adverse possession?
Layer should be investigated by US Department of Justice over property owners rights of purchase, what is the legally laws violated rights.
That sounds like a shakedown and quite shady.
That's why you should always get the deed and it get a surveyor before purchasing any land
Why does humanity have to be this cruel and miserable…
I mean the smart thing to do would be to sell it to the local city is in to make a permanent easement out of it but instead criminals took advantage of a loophole and forced people to pay the price. Even now that the residents on the private road they should consider selling it to the city to make it a permanent easement and to save them selves cost of maintaining it.
Oh, and you may have access since you have used this property everyday for at least 7 years. In order for a land owner to maintain control of his/her property that is used as an egress is to totally shut it down for 1 day a year.
The homeowners need to contact the city about the issue and ask for a road easement on the property in front of their homes. 20 foot wide property and a 30 foot road easement would take care of the problem.
Those look like public easements... none of those threats would have gotten permits, and possibly ended in some form of charges.
The person behind that trust better hope no one finds out their identity. One day, they're going to piss off the wrong home owner...
Someone needs to go down the rabbit 🐇 whole on these guys...
Said it ,bought it...waiting... to take advantage. 💲💰💰 Giving One no choice. Is extortion. Ripping up street is threatening.
Another Demon 😈
Who was not given a choice? Maybe the choices are to legally acquire the property... Or to behave as if they don't own it.
There's more dirty low down laws than ones to I.prove life
It would be a tragedy if all of those residents happened to be seriously injured while on the land trust owner’s property. 20 - 30 lawsuits just might change some minds. Ownership of land = responsibility for what happens on land…
The best thing to do would be for either the town or the county to step in and compensate all the homeowners who had to shell out money to purchase rights of way for their homes, which would in effect transfer ownership of the road to the town or county, just like the other 99% of all roads in this country. The government that owns the road would treat it like the rest of the roads in their jurisdiction with periodic maintenance and upkeep. This would also solve the problem of people selling their homes, moving away and/or dying. It would no longer be a private road and no one could ever claim ownership of it again. Ever.
the city HAS TO give them access to the homes. the city is in charge of layout of roads and homes. His purchase is void.
Welcome to America
THIS "818...Land Trust" also once purchased a lake behind several upscale homes by paying the delinquent taxes ($2340) of the land on which the lake is.
A huge neon pink fence was errected along the shoreline (part of the lake) thus blocking views of the picturesque lake from the homes.
The homeowners were then notified by mail that they would each have to pay $4000 to have the section of pink fence behind their home removed.
Each of the 11 owners relented, and paid.
YEP! - It's a shame but some people spend their entire life rooting around looking for ways to scew anyone they can - for as much profit as possible. What's even worse is that the reason they get away with it is that there is usually a politician involved that makes a little on the side as well so nothing changes.
Does the name Mitt Romney sound familiar? He made millions this way.
Freedom!
People don't get surveys with the land markings when they buy a property there in that area?
They have to form an hoa to hold the property or or each of them own a 1' wide section of the road, and an easement on the others 1' section and they have a maintenance agreement on the road.
Split the land up and resize the lots. Add those sections to each adjoining lot.
Are you proposing that the property be stolen from the land trust and given to each of the homeowners?