Yet Another Scam!
Cynthia Roldan from the Palm Beach Post reports on a growing scam that is becoming more and more prevalent throughout the country. People are renting out abandoned homes as if they owned the home…..the only problem is that they don’t own the home!
The message here is pretty clear. If you or one of your clients is renting (or about to rent) a home, make sure that the person that is renting it to you/them is the rightful owner of the property. I would suggest that you take the extra step of determining whether the house is in pre foreclosure. If it is, the owner is probably not paying the mortgage. The last thing that you or your clients need is to get an eviction notice on the door because the property that they have been renting has been foreclosed upon.
Palm Springs man charged with bilking renters with foreclosed home
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By CYNTHIA ROLDAN
A 47-year-old Air Force veteran faced a judge this morning, after being arrested for allegedly stealing utilities and for “acting as the proprietor” of a foreclosed home in the Village of Palm Springs.
Glenn Garlington Dewey, whose last known address was in Palm Springs, was taken into custody after a Palm Springs Public Safety investigator determined Dewey had been collecting $600 in rent from at least five people, who were living in the spare rooms of 2903 Appalachee Road, according to the arrest report.
That house, however, was determined to have been foreclosed on in 2010. The investigator also discovered that the last owner of the house, who now lives in Texas, was Cobb Scott – not Dewey, the report stated.
The investigator noted in the report that Dewey had also replaced the house’s water and electrical meters with that of a neighboring home in foreclosure.
During his first appearance hearing this morning, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx ordered Dewey be held in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Marx scheduled a Veteran’s Court hearing for Dewey for Thursday.