Squatting around the Christmas tree!
A Florida couple who became famous for decorating their home with extravagant Christmas lights and North Pole accessories were allegedly living illegally at the residence, which was once owned by a Miami Dolphin player.
Mark and Kathy Hyatt “squatted” inside the exclusive neighborhood of Plantation, Florida, where they transformed themselves into the “Hyatt Extreme Christmas” house every year for 15 years without paying, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Broward County officials are seeking $34,724 in back property taxes after a team of property appraiser detectives investigated the family for seven months, interviewing neighbors and discovering apparently fake deeds used by the Hyatts.
The Hyatt family was granted a homestead exemption that the county said should never have been granted because they were not the rightful owners of the home.
“(Mark Hyatt) has received assessment waivers and/or limitations totaling $34,724.68 over seven years. The property appraiser found that the taxpayer had no legal right to receive the exemptions because the applicant was not the legal owner,” according to county property appraiser records.
The Hyatts, a Florida family who rose to fame for their extravagant Christmas decorations, never owned the house and occupied the property for years. WPLG In 2014, the house’s decorations became a national hit, when the city of Plantation sued Hyatt for believing the lights’ popularity would cause an accident due to the amount of traffic it generated. WPLG
The county’s investigation dates back to 2013 because the statute of limitations only allowed the office to go back 10 years, and the last three years (2020-2022) were not listed in the first set of records but were still taking place in the investigation, according to the newspaper.
The appraisers’ investigation came after Kathy Hyatt inquired about a 2005 deed “that resulted in the Hyatts’ illegal ownership of the subject property,” the newspaper said, citing a memo from the hired real estate attorney. by the county.
The extravagant Christmas display was last illuminated in 2017, when Mark and Kathy Hyatt divorced.
While in divorce court arranging child support and alimony, Kathy Hyatt was asked to sign the deed to the property when she revealed that they had never owned the property and that the deed was fake.
Mark Hyatt died three years later, at the age of 56.
Kathy Hyatt says her late then-husband, Mark, created a false deed before the couple broke into the Plantation Acres home and began living in it. WPLG Local 10/YouTube
The Hyatts had come to reside in the disputed home after a private investor purchased $50,000 of the home’s original mortgage, changed the locks and planned to flip the home after its original owner, former Miami Dolphin Brett Perriman, failed to do so. He was able to pay his $400,000 mortgage and faced foreclosure in 2004.
According to the newspaper, the investors received a quitclaim title to the property instead of an assignment of mortgage.
At the time, the couple was looking for a place to live in Florida when they found the Plantation Acres house that looked abandoned and were told that the original owners had moved to Georgia.
Mark Hyatt, a then-mortgage officer, discovered that Perriman did not have a valid deed and accused the investor of taking money, even going so far as to call the police.
Hyatt then created a false deed to the property before breaking into the home and changing the locks, Kathy Hyatt said during a deposition in August, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The couple found their way to the house and threw out everything the investors had inside so that the investor “couldn’t come back and say he did have possession before we arrived.”
“Well, we broke in,” Kathy Hyatt told investigators. “I had never done that before in my life. We never paid money to occupy it. “We were squatters.”
In 2014, the house’s decorations became a national hit, as the city of Plantation sued Hyatt on the grounds that the popularity of the lights would lead to an accident due to the amount of traffic it generated.
In 2017, Mark Hyatt ousted a sitting city councilor, just weeks after he declared victory over the city council during legal battles.
The couple found their way to the house and threw out everything the investors had inside so that the investor “couldn’t come back and say he did have possession before we arrived.” WPLG Local 10/YouTube
The city had spent about $427,000 in legal bills to fight the case, which Hyatt called an example of fiscal mismanagement during his campaign, the Sun Sentinel reported at the time.
The house is currently listed on Google Maps as a real estate agency run by Kathy Hyatt.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn