WSVN — He was battling an association that he knew was wrong– but his problem, even though he was right, he couldn’t afford to hire an attorney to fight. What do you do? It’s why he called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser for the answer.
When Troy bought his condo at miller lakes, one thing he liked was the association…
Troy Jacobs: “I thought it was going to be beautiful. I thought it was going to be nice.”
Then he lost his job. Couldn’t make his association payments and they foreclosed on him to collect that $9,000.
Troy Jacobs: “They did a foreclosure. It was sold on December 17th 2013 to Lydia Sosa.”
Fortunately Sosa agreed to rent the condo back to Troy. He signed a lease and paid her $900 a month, then the association tried to foreclose on Sosa for nearly $10,000.
Troy Jacobs: “They in turn turned around and sued Lydia Sosa for the same lawsuit I was sued for. They were trying to collect again. Yes.”
The association also came after Troy, taking away his parking spaces, giving them to two maintenance employees and giving Troy a warning.
Troy Jacobs: “If you park in that spot, we will have your vehicle towed and you will be fined.”
At the time, the association was suing the woman who owned the condo and trying to evict Troy who had signed a lease. So Troy called Help Me Howard.
Howard Finkelstein: “The association doesn’t own the property, therefore they can’t evict Troy and even if they owned the condo, they could not evict if he has a valid lease. Troy can fight this but it can be costly and stressful to do it alone.”
Realizing Troy was being pushed around and couldn’t afford the cost to fight an association, we called Luis Valdeon, whose company helps people in trouble.
Luis Valdeon: “There was other things that I saw that didn’t look right. I said we will do it for free because I don’t think it’s right.”
Valdeon brought attorney Robert Wayne to court to let the judge know Miller Lakes Condo was trying to evict a legal renter.
Robert Wayne: “The association, I believe, was wrong for filing the writ of possession in their name when they didn’t own the property.”
After Troy called us, his landlord got tired of fighting the association and gave them her condo. Since Troy had a lease, they still couldn’t evict him.
In court, Miller Lakes attorney said no one told him that.
Javier Guadayol: “I didn’t know until just a few minutes ago that there was a lease. Had I known, had I been called, they know I am a straight shooter, I would have stopped this and dealt with it in a different fashion.”
Javier Guadayol also told me he didn’t know some of the things the association was trying to do to Troy.
Javier Guadayol: “I am the attorney, I do not deal with the day to day management. The association makes their own rules and don’t tell him about it.”
Guadayol and Wayne then scribbled out a deal. The attempt to evict Troy would stop, the association would give up trying to collect the $10,000, Troy would get one months free rent and then he would pay the rent to the association which now owns the property.
Finally, he got his parking spaces back.
Javier Guadayol: “My recommendation is they allow you to park and you are going to park there tonight.”
Judge Peter Lopez then came in, looked at the agreement the two sides worked out, and signed off on it.
Peter Lopez: “Alright gentlemen, good luck.”
Troy then went home.
Troy Jacobs: “It feels so good to know that I had people that were there to help me.”
Back in the condo he now rents, and back to the association who came after him.
Troy Jacobs: “You need to beware. Beware of these associations. I don’t trust associations.”
Patrick Fraser: “What happens if an association is illegally coming after you and you can’t afford to hire an attorney to fight them? There is no easy solution. In fact, I can only think of one, call Help Me Howard.”
An association with a problem left you courting trouble? Ready to evict the mess from your life? Don’t lawyer up, let us know. Our price is right, it’s free.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
E-mail: helpmehoward@wsvn.com (please include your contact phone number when e-mailing)
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN