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.