The idea of inheriting fines and debt is such a weird one. One man, who worked his fingers to the bone to restore an old empty home, found out that he owed over $1 million in house fines from the previous owner.
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Denny Dorcey bought the house out of foreclosure in the Oakland Park Council area of Florida. The house was in a sorry state, but it had a lot of the trimmings that Dorey remembered from his youth. He took the project on, and started work, looking to turn the old house into a home. "I'm, you know, I'm holding on to a little bit of the 70s that I enjoyed when I was a kid," he said of this passion project.
However, he didn't realize there were fines attached to the house that were steadily mounting. It is apparently completely legal for a council to not inform new house owners about current fines attached to a home. This kind of extortion racket allows a council to let fines mount, resulting in obscenely high costs. They can wait up to 10 years.
After the 10 years were up, Dorcey received a letter. The council was swooping in, ready to destroy this man's home and livelihood. They slapped him with $1,097,400 in house fines. These had accrued interest over 10 years.
Speaking with outlets about their cause, he said they were for "Petty things like overgrown weeds trashing the carport." Despite being small things, the city had waited until the house fines were enough to ruin the man and then moved in.
The Press Saves The Day, Wiping House Fines
You know, journalism isn't always all bad, sometimes we do something good. In this case, it was 7News that came to save the day. After hearing of his situation, they decided to do some legal digging. Dorcey had already informed the city that he wouldn't be able to pay the fines. As a result, they put him in contact with a collection agency. This would clear him out.
However, a legal representative, working with 7News cleared it up. It turns out that because this Florida man had bought his house in foreclosure, the $1 million of fines were no longer valid. "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 is free and clear from the enormous debt, and the house is his to be lived in.
