Mortgage Broker Puts Adverse Possession to Test by Seizing Foreclosure Properties
A Florida mortgage broker is scheduled to go on trial for fraud in December for seizing and renting out foreclosure properties in a bid to obtain title through adverse possession.
Mark Guerette and his company, Save Florida Homes Inc., have filed court claims on about 100 foreclosure properties he found while driving around working class neighborhoods in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, the New York Times reports. He even sent notice to the building owners and banks on 20 properties that could most easily be renovated, although the law does not require it. He received a response for just one property out of the 20, he told the Times.
Guerette then began fixing the unclaimed properties, paying the property taxes, and finding renters. At his peak last year, he had 17 properties rented. A born-again Christian, Guerette says he is helping needy people find homes. “There are all these properties out there that could be used for good,” he told the newspaper.
Guerette is relying on a 1869 adverse possession statute in Florida that allows people to claim title to property after seven years. A version of the law was used in the 1850s to claim possession of runaway slaves.
“It is not clear how many people are testing the idea,” the story says, “but lawyers say that do-it-yourself possession cases have been popping up all over the country.”
