A handyman was left in shock after being handed a daunting bill of over $1 million for code violations on his Florida home from the previous residents.
Denny Dorcey bought his home 10 years ago when it was set for foreclosure and completely overhauled the space. He added bespoke cabinets, restored old televisions and an oven, as well as other adjustments.
‘I’m, you know, I’m holding on to a little bit of the 70s that I enjoyed when I was a kid,’ he told WSVN.
Dorcey, however, was left in shock after he was issued a whopping bill of $1,097,400 for code violations on his home.
‘The letter said that I owe the city over $1 million for code violation fines from the time before I bought the house,’ he said.
The letter detailed four minor violations committed by previous residents.
‘Petty things like overgrown weeds trashing the carport,’ he added.
Yet there were no fines or liens detailed when Dorcey had bought the house, and he was none the wiser until he received the letter ten years later.
Denny Dorcey bought the home, set for foreclosure, and rebuilt it but was left in shock after he was issued a whopping bill of $1,097,400 for code violations on his home
The letter detailed four minor violations committed by previous residents. ‘Petty things like overgrown weeds trashing the carport,’ Dorcey said
When Dorcey told them he wouldn’t be able to pay such a large fine, he was told to call the collection agency and negotiate a settlement. The daunting price was out of Dorcey’s reach but, while the fines aren’t his fault, the bill is still his responsibility
Oakland Park only notified Dorcey after allegedly clearing old files and happened to come across his.
‘That’s how it all started,’ he added.
When Dorcey told them he wouldn’t be able to pay such a large fine, he was told to call the collection agency and negotiate a settlement.
The daunting price was out of Dorcey’s reach but, while the fines aren’t his fault, the bill is still his responsibility.
A legal expert for 7News, Howard Finkelstein, said that it is perfectly legal for Government agencies to wait ten years, for example, to notify a new homeowner about the fines therefore allowing them to grow.
‘But in this case, the city cannot do this to Denny because he bought the property in foreclosure and that wiped out any existing liens and fines that the city had,’ he added.
The outlet notified Oakland Park, who checked the 2010 case and found the property was not brought into compliance before it was foreclosed upon. The city was not notified of the foreclosure, reported WSVN.
Dorcey’s $1 million fine was therefore dropped and the lien wiped.
A legal expert for 7News, Howard Finkelstein, said that it is perfectly legal for Government agencies to wait to notify the buyer of such a bill, but in this case it wasn’t legal due to the foreclosure
‘Without you guys, they would have destroyed my life completely. There’s no doubt in my mind,’ Dorcey said
‘Without you guys, they would have destroyed my life completely. There’s no doubt in my mind,’ he said.
The shocking situation that almost bankrupt Dorcey highlighted the importance for new homeowners to double check for liens on a home before buying.
Dorcey’s story comes not long after another couple had plans for their dream home in Florida, but were quickly left $17,500 dollars down while paying taxes on unusable land.
Donna Hartl and her husband bought the $17,500 property with plans to relocate from North Dakota to Brooksville, Florida.
Their dreams were quickly crushed after a neighbor alerted them to a decades-old easement on the land with Duke Energy.
The easement prohibited any building within feet of the utility pole, but the couple were still left paying taxes on the unusable land. Hartl, however, said they had done their homework on the land and saw no red flags throughout the entire process.
Donna Hartl and her husband bought the $17,500 property with plans to relocate from North Dakota to Brooksville, Florida, but their dreams were crushed after a neighbor told them they could never build there
‘I was getting the green light on everything. My property was being brought up on the GIS map at the county, I got my setbacks, what I could and couldn’t do. I could bring a modular home in, a mobile home, or I could do a single-family residence,’ Hartl said
![When they later came to visit the property, they found a line of huge concrete utility poles with one on their land. '[We] came to our property on Monday November 11 and saw that pole behind us and went "Whoa, whoa, whoa",' Hartl said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/23/93255871-14211933-When_they_later_came_to_visit_the_property_they_found_a_line_of_-a-9_1734650419220.jpg)
When they later came to visit the property, they found a line of huge concrete utility poles with one on their land. ‘[We] came to our property on Monday November 11 and saw that pole behind us and went “Whoa, whoa, whoa”,’ Hartl said
The couple brought in a builder to draft plans for their home and had County records confirm the property was zoned for residential or agricultural use.
‘I was getting the green light on everything. My property was being brought up on the GIS map at the county, I got my setbacks, what I could and couldn’t do. I could bring a modular home in, a mobile home, or I could do a single-family residence,’ Hartl told WFLA.
While county workers insisted that she could still build, they were later corrected by an uncovered document from 1955.
The document stipulated the decades-old utility easement that prohibited construction within 100 feet of the pole in any direction, leaving almost the entire piece of land unusable for their new home.
What was left was a 600-square-foot corner that wouldn’t accommodate a home due to septic and well requirements.
‘So, that leaves nothing,’ she said.
Hartl said she has filed complaints with the Florida Attorney General’s office and several state regulators.
She added that Nexgen representatives have told her they note information provided to them by the seller of the property.
