Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

I have a home I bought a little over a year ago. My family and I where told that the plumbing, AC, Roof, and Electrical were in good repair. This is a owner finance. At the beginning of the year, we were working to renew the insurance when my wife fell ill. She was in the hospital for one week and we fell short on getting the insurance renewed. We have not missed any payments. We informed them of the issue with the insurance and that we would be getting the required 4 point inspection to reinstate our insurance to keep our payments at the original rate. They threatened to kick us out in 24 hrs, and that they would foreclose on our home because of the temporary lack of insurance.

The mortgagers did file foreclosure in April, and paid the insurance in our name as well as paid the property taxes with out consulting us. We only fond out when we were trying to pay for the taxes. Our court date is in September, and I need to know what my options are.

We have had the inspection since the filing of foreclosure and found the entire house has to be rewired. Also have found that they failed to mention that the AC shares circuits with the hallway and utility room. It is wired into the light circuits. We were told that the living room was flooded because of a "plumbing" leak that he repaired, but found the repair was not done and that the flood did not come from the bathroom as described, rather the AC where they places a blue bucket in the return vent to catch water condensation from the cooling coils. We replaced the carpet that was coming up and the tac strips were though the carpet with engineered flooring. The condensation has damaged the new flooring and it is warping the area by the ac handler in the living room.

Can I counter sue? Fact one, the original home owners filed foreclosure on our home with out us without our missing any house payments. They have harassed me at work, threatened to "evict" us, and are trying to bully us our of our home after we have sunk more then $6000 in flooring, paint, appliance, cabinet resurfacing. Not to mention other repairs such as plumbing that was explained to be fixed before we moved in.

Fact two:

They failed to disclosed issues with AC and electrical. They lied about fixing the plumbing, and I don't even want to imagine what the roofs true condition is. Concrete roof that he claims he sealed and patched before we moved in.

any information would be helpful. What can we sue for by fl law. We owe 35000 on the home and will have to put out $7000 just to re-due the AC system that was installed improperly in 2009 without proper drainage of water, and coolant lines that are to small for the size of the unite. Needing to run a dedicated 30 amp circuit and wiring the Fire censor to the thermostat that monitors the AC for issues and shuts down the AC in order to keep from spreading fire via the ventilation system. The wiring is an entirely different issue as I need to rewire the hole house and install a new breaker box.


Asked on 7/21/13, 6:41 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

Hire an attorney to assist you. Yes, a mortgagor can foreclose if the payment of insurance and taxes is required by the mortgage and not timely done. That is the same as a default in payment of the mortgage itself. As for the collection tactics, they likely violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and may allow you to have a cause of action. As for the condition of the home if you had an opportunity to inspect, that was the time you should have complained. You don't mention whether home was purchased as is or not. Seek legal help for all your issues.

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Answered on 7/21/13, 7:35 am


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