A woman who purchased vacant land in Hawaii was surprised to learn that a $500,000 home was mistakenly built on the property.
She is now mired in legal wrangling over the confusion.
Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds purchased a one-acre (0.40 hectare) lot in Hawaiian Paradise Park, a subdivision in the Puna district of the Big Island, in 2018 at a county tax auction for about $22 $500.
She was in California during the pandemic, waiting for the right time to use it when she received a call last year from a real estate broker who informed her he had sold the house on her property, reported Hawaii News Now.
Local developer Keaau Development Partnership hired PJ’s Construction to build a dozen homes on properties purchased by the developer in the subdivision. But the company built one on Reynolds’ land.
Reynolds, along with the construction company, architect and others, are now being sued by the developer.
“There’s a lot of finger pointing between the developer, the contractor and some of the subcontractors,” said Reynolds’ attorney, James DiPasquale.
Reynolds rejected the developer’s offer for a neighboring lot of equal size and value, according to court documents.
“It would set a dangerous precedent if you could access someone else’s land, build whatever you want, and then sue that individual for the value of it,” DiPasquale said.
Most of the land at the jungle-like Hawaiian Paradise Park is identical, noted Peter Olson, an attorney representing the developer.
“My client believes she is trying to exploit PJ Construction’s mistake in order to get money from my client and the other parties,” Olson told The Associated Press Wednesday about her dismissal of an offer for an identical lot.
She filed a counterclaim against the developer, claiming she was unaware of the “unpermitted construction.”
An attorney for PJ’s Construction told Hawaii News Now the developer doesn’t want to hire surveyors.
A neighbor told the Honolulu news station that the empty house had attracted squatters.
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News Source : fortune.com
