(WSVN) - A woman is facing fines from the city because her home is listed as a rental. But her home is actually not for rent. The rental company refuses to remove the listing. That’s when she asked Howard and Patrick for help.
When Meline walked into the townhouse, it was for sale. But in her mind, it was about to be sold.
Meline Wareham: “It looked beautiful. When I came to see it, I was in love immediately.”
Loves the view of the lake, loves living here.
Then, the City of Plantation sent her a letter telling her she was violating city codes.
Meline Wareham: “Not having a license to run a business, which is no shock to me because I don’t run a business here.”
Meline was accused of not having a license to operate a rental property because her home was listed on Vrbo, the site where you rent your house for days.
Meline Wareham: “What I have is a case of a fraudulent listing. I’ve lived here every day since I made the purchase.”
The pictures on Vrbo were of her house that came from the listing when it was for sale. For example, the bedroom then and now.
Meline Wareham: “With my address. Pictures of my home.”
Meline contacted Plantation to try to get the violations removed.
Meline Wareham: “All they needed was proof that the listing was taken down. So I thought, ‘OK, well, that shouldn’t be hard.”
Should have been easy, but Vrbo made it hard.
Meline Wareham: “And when I told them I needed the listing removed, I was told we can’t do that. And I said, ‘Why not?’ And she said, ‘Because you’re not the person who made the listing.'”
The website wouldn’t tell Meline who listed her home, in effect, protecting the crook who was trying to rent her house for $700 a night.
Meline Wareham: “I’m very fortunate that no one has showed up at my door, you know? ‘Hi. Are you the host?’ Like, you know. ‘I’m the resident.'”
Meline’s problems mounted. She was told that if that listing didn’t disappear from Vrbo, Plantation’s fines will begin.
Meline Wareham: “$250 a day per violation. So that’s $500 a day since the end of September. It’d be a really hefty fine. Thousands.”
Meline likes her house. So does a scammer who is trying to rip off potential renters.
Meline Wareham: I’m shocked. I really am. And I’m a little, kind of angry.”
Well, Howard. If a crook lists your home for sale or rent, legally can the website block you from removing the listing?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “Legally, they have to remove it, but getting past a customer rep who doesn’t understand the law is tough as Meline found out. And it makes no sense that they don’t train their employees better because if someone who got scammed showed up at the house and took it out on the innocent homeowner, the listing company could be on the hook for the damages to the owner.”
We got in touch with the people at Vrbo. Within a few days, we got this email from Vrbo that said, “Hi, Patrick, thank you for bringing this to our attention. The listing is no longer available on Vrbo.”
They also wrote Meline saying, “We have determined that listing is not authorized to advertise the property and have terminated their listing.”
Meline Wareham: “That’s simple? Get Help Me Howard involved and that’s it? Like three days. Boom. There is the email.”
Meline says Plantation told her she is now in compliance and her it’s not a rental headache is gone.
Meline Wareham: “I’m so happy I called Help Me Howard, and exactly who you see on camera is who you get in real life and so personable, and just so helpful. It’s amazing.”
We’ve been called helpful but never personable. Thank you, Meline.
And who posted the listing? Since Vrbo doesn’t have to tell Meline, she will never know. Although, if it was a scammer, they won’t use their real name anyway.
Housing a problem you want to throw out? Don’t have a list of solutions? Post it with us. We won’t rent it from you. We’ll own it and hopefully solve it.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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