PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Residents of a mobile home community in southern Palm Beach County are fearing eviction due to a series of notices they’ve received from property management.
If you walk around Sand & Sea Village near Boynton Beach, you will find a frustrated community.
"What they’re doing is absolutely unethical," Richard Lindley said.
Lindley called Contact 5 last week.
He said residents of the community have been getting notices threatening eviction for breaking rules that they feel are petty.
He showed WPTV a video of a man who works for management taking pictures of his property.
"I'll cut my grass on a Sunday and on Friday. I get a letter saying my grass needs to be cut, and then I'll cut it the following Sunday, and then they send somebody out two days after that to cut my grass," Lindley said.
The warnings go far beyond the grass.
"I go down to the office, and I'm like, 'What’s this notice about?'" John McMahon told WPTV.
McMahon was cited for a long list of things last month, including having bicycles, outdoor furniture and a gas can sitting outside his home.
According to the notice, residents have seven days to correct the issue at hand or they could be evicted from the property.
Lindley said while most of the residents own their homes, they lease the land from Sand and Sea.
"I just had a baby. I don't need to be kicked out of a home that I own," Eric Smith said.
Smith recently received a notice too.
"I rent this ground. Where am I supposed to go if you kick me out because I don't paint my house or something?" Smith asked. "It doesn't make sense."
All of the residents who spoke with WPTV have the same fear. It comes at a time when affordable housing in South Florida is hard to find.
"They want to kick you out of here, so they can get the trailer and resell it themselves and make money out of it," said Jesus Rangel, a resident of Sand & Sea Village.
"I paid $30,000 for this four years ago, and one just like this one sold for $72,000 in two days," Lindley said.
According to the Sand & Sea website, some of the homes are currently selling for more than $100,000.
When WPTV went to the front office to try and speak with the property manager, our crew met a woman who ran outside in tears.
She didn't want to speak on camera but said she was in the process of buying a home at Sand & Sea. However, management allegedly sold it to someone else for double the price.
When WPTV tracked down the property manager, he told our crew he had no comment.
The district manager, Sharon Guiliano, later sent WPTV the following the statement:
"Pursuant to the negligence of various individual residents and the conditions they created at their homesites, Sand & Sea Village received a March 2nd, 2022 violation from the State of Florida Department of Health, copy attached. Following receipt of the violation, Management was forced to take action against the specific individual residents to protect the overall health and safety of the Community.
We are pleased to report that since the residents remedied their individual violations, Sand & Sea Village and the individual residents are now in compliance pursuant to the April 4, 2022 State of Florida Department of Health reinspection, copy attached. Since the situation has been resolved, no further action will be taken against the negligent residents who created these violations."
"It's a working-class neighborhood. I'm lucky I can afford the $2,500 to $3,000 to get an attorney. But a lot of these people, if they come at them and tell them here's your seven days, they don’t have a choice," Lindley said.
