Report Courtesy of NBC CHANNEL 2
Reporter Chuck Weber
Published May 5, 2009
A local couple finds themselves caught up in the middle of the housing meltdown, when they were denied access to their development.
For the past 13 months, Karen and Steven Kurtz have lived in a home in Canyon Isles west of Boynton Beach. In December, they got notice their landlord was in foreclosure. Later they learned the landlord had filed for bankruptcy.
"But he stopped paying the homeowners association, which is what affects us now," stated Karen. So the home is not current on HOA dues, and the lease the Kurtz' had with the property owner expired at the end of March.
This past Friday, the couple could not enter Canyon Isles. Steven said, "I showed my i.d. and they said, 'No you're not here. You don't live here.' Never thought anyone would deny you access to your own community."
"Somebody had to smuggle me in, in a van, with tinted windows," exclaimed Karen.
"I feel terrible about their situation," Eric Koeppel, president of the Canyon Isles Homeowners Association, told us in an email. "But legally my hands are tied. We do not have any valid documentation in the form of a new (or renewed) lease... stating that the Kurtz family has permission to live in the home."
Koeppel said the HOA would allow the Kurtz' access to the community this week, to give them an opportunity to get the proper documentation.
"I think the renters are put in a terrible situation," lamented Karen. Mrs. Kurtz says she and her husband would like to buy the house and are willing to pay the HOA fees from this point forward. But since they're not the owners and don't have a lease, the association won't take their money, she says.
The Kurtz' have a lawyer, who's trying to work things out.
HOA ART
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