Posted on 01/27/2013 9:23:07 AM PST by Uncle Chip
Andre Barbosa may soon have to pack up and leave the palatial home he has been occupying in Boca Raton, Florida.
The 23-year-old Brazilian national has been squatting at the $2.5million waterfront estate on Golden Harbour Drive since the summer, infuriating all the neighbors in the process.
Barbosa, originally from the neighboring Pompano Beach, has been threatening to use an obscure real estate law that allows people to claim a property as their own if they stay there for seven years.
No one witnessed Barbosa breaking into the 7,522-squae foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom waterfront home, so he cannot be arrested.
But on Friday, it was revealed that Bank of America filed paperwork in Palm Beach County court naming Barbosa and eight other unnamed individuals as defendants for their attempt to take possession of 580 Golden Harbour Drive. The bank is claiming rightful ownership of the house despite Barbosa's attempt to invoke the adverse possession law.
According to the court filing, the 23-year-old, who goes by the online nickname 'Loki Boy,' is liable for more than $15,000 for breaking into the residence.
‘The bank is taking this situation seriously and we will work diligently to resolve this matter,’ said spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens.Nearby homeowners were enthusiastic about the prospect of what appears to be Barbosa's eminent eviction.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
If this guy is here illegally, I’m quite surprised BOA is doing a thing about it! *SMIRK*
One would assume that without a lease or title, he could not get utility service.
So the health dept should be able to evict him.
No one needs more than 7 rooms.
These large-capacity assault houses need to be outlawed...
Imagine the Welcome Wagon's surprise.
That would be "imminent", you silly twit.
What passes for "education" these days......good Lord.
LOL
I’m almost certain that house appeared in “Miami Vice.”
I haven’t been able to afford a vacation in years. You think he’d let me have one of the rooms? Is there maid and room service?
If he’s on the property contrary to the owner’s wishes, he’s trespassing whether anyone saw him break in or not.
simple...evict him under rule 303!!!
As they say...ignorance of the law is no excuse.
In Florida, adverse possession is a relatively short 7 years. But, you must pay property taxes during that time and you must openly, continuously and adversely possess the property. For a property of this value, the lender was never going to let the period for adverse possession lapse. Banks are bureaucracies, clumsy ones a times, capable of a lot of mistakes, but this eviction was going to happen a lot sooner than the 7 year adverse possession requirement. The occupiers were enjoying a pipe dream.
I am more annoyed that the media can report this story in this fashion, as they continue to do with regularity, without learning something about the law and the way it works here, and in other states( where adverse possession typically takes longer, most places 20 years).
Here in Palm Beach County, FL - the local paper is The Palm Beach Post. They have the same set of reporters covering real estate as were here when I moved to Florida at the time of the real estate melt-down, 6 years ago. Yet they still publish articles on real property issues that are as ignorant as this Daily Mail piece. Recently there was a piece under the by line of Kimberly Miller, which described a transfer to trust ploy which has been promoted as a way of preventing foreclosure on a Florida home. It is in fact legally ineffective and just another way that scam artists fleece desperate people facing a foreclosure. All Miller and the Palm Beach Post staff had to do would be to ts peak with a real estate lawyer to confirm or contradict this approach, and they would never have publishes the article, which essentially posited the questions: Is this a new way to evade foreclosure? The answer was clearly no, and they admitted as much in reporting about two months later when a Judge tossed out the defensive ploy of using this transfer to trust mechanism.
It’s just astonishing that journalists can be looking at this phenomenon (the real estate meltdown and all the follow on effects)for over 5 years and get so much wrong.
Next-door neighbor Lyn Houston told the Sun-Sentinel that she had approached Bank of America last week with an offer to buy the foreclosed house that Barbosa has been calling home, but she has received no response.
Why not try to compromise and charge the squatters rent? At least they'll make some money, or is the bank not into capitalism?
BTW, the photos at the linked site (again, a foriegn newspaper!) show a pretty nice house!!!
As they say...ignorance of the law is no excuse. In Florida, adverse possession is a relatively short 7 years. But, you must pay property taxes during that time and you must openly, continuously and adversely possess the property. For a property of this value, the lender was never going to let the period for adverse possession lapse. Banks are bureaucracies, clumsy ones at times, capable of a lot of mistakes, but this eviction was going to happen a lot sooner than the 7 year adverse possession requirement. The occupiers were enjoying a pipe dream.
I am more annoyed that the media can report this story in this fashion, as they continue to do with regularity, without first learning something about the law and the way it works here, and in other states (where adverse possession typically takes longer, in most states, 20 years).
Here in Palm Beach County, FL - the local paper is The Palm Beach Post. They have the same set of reporters covering real estate as were here when I moved to Florida at the time of the real estate melt-down, 6 years ago. Yet they still publish articles on real property issues that are as ignorant as this Daily Mail piece. Recently there was a piece under the by-line of Kimberly Miller, which described a transfer-to-trust ploy which has been promoted as a way of preventing foreclosure on a Florida home. It is in fact legally ineffective and just another way that scam artists fleece desperate people facing a foreclosure. All Miller and the Palm Beach Post staff had to do would be to speak with a real estate lawyer to confirm or contradict this approach, and they would never have published the article, which essentially posited the questions: Is this a new way to evade foreclosure? The answer was clearly no, and they admitted as much in reporting two months later when a Judge tossed out the defensive ploy of using this transfer-to-trust mechanism.
It’s just astonishing that journalists can be looking at this phenomenon (the real estate meltdown and all the follow-on effects) for over 5 years and get so much wrong. There are 90,000 members of the Florida Bar, some 67,000 of which are resident in Florida and actively practicing, some subset of that are lawyers who have concentrated expertise in real property matters. Word up to journalists: call one, or several of them, to gather information before writing on real property topics.
Somehow, I doubt it still looks that nice now, after Brazil Boy has had all his dope and boozing parties. I would be willing to bet that there are vomit, urine and feces stains and odors all over that place.
Once eviction is imminent, yes he will trash the house.
He probably is angling to be paid to leave.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.