Foreign Property News | Posted by Aye Myat Thu
A HOUSE hunter thought he’d snapped up a £140,000 bungalow for £7,200 in an online auction – but he’d only bought a strip of grass.
Kerville Holness mistakenly bid on a 1ft-wide, 100ft-long grass verge running between two homes, thinking he was buying one of the houses.
Despite paying $9,100 (£7,200) in the auction, the measly piece of land in Tamarac, Florida, is worth just $50 (£40).
And to make matters worse, officials say he cannot get a refund.
Mr Holness believes he was scammed by the Florida county that put the property up for auction for unpaid property taxes in March.
He asked Broward County to void the deal and return his money, but officials say state law does not allow for refunds.
“It's deception. There was no demarcation to show it's just a line going through the [villa duplex], even though they have the tools to show that,” Mr Holness told the Sun Sentinel.
“If I’m vindictive enough, I can cut right through the garage wall and the home to get to my air space, but what use would that be to me?”
Mr Holness claims he submitted his bid based on property appraiser photos which he says show the bungalow as the item to be bid on.
But the appraiser’s site and information on the county’s tax site show that the land takes up only 100 sq ft and that the property is 1ft-wide, according to the paper.
Officials don’t know why the developer never attached the strip to either of the adjoining properties.
Ref: Property Report
