Half million dollar lien on house – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
(WSVN) – A city fined a South Florida man $1 million. After Help Me Howard got involved, the city wiped out the fine. Then he got another letter from the city; you won’t believe what this one said in this Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
It was nice to hear from Denny again.
The reason he called, though, was not so pleasant.
Denny Dorcey: “It’s just so ridiculous. I mean, the whole thing.”
Let’s go back to December. Denny had contacted Help Me Howard after he got letters from the City of Oakland Park, announcing fines he had to pay.
Denny Dorcey: “The letter said that I owed the city over $1 million for code violation fines.”
One-million ninety-seven-thousand four hundred dollars to be exact.
Denny Dorcey: “It was like having a bomb dropped on me, I just couldn’t believe it.”
We did a little digging; the fines were slapped on a prior owner of the property back in 2010.
Denny then bought the house in foreclosure in 2014, and the city never notified him about the fines until 2024 when they soared past $1 million.
Denny Dorcey: “Because this is a monster that’s way too big for me to handle.”
Legally, Howard thought it was clear.
Howard Finkelstein: “Since Denny bought the house in foreclosure, state law requires any liens and fines to be lifted and wiped out.”
Oakland Park agreed with us.
Denny Dorcey: “With your help, it went away, and they told me that everything was taken care of; I owed nothing, I had to pay nothing.”
Getting the fines and liens removed had an enormous impact on Denny.
Denny Dorcey: “I couldn’t sleep over this whole thing; the mental anguish was terrible, and then I went back to work, that got me back into shape and I thought I was almost feeling normal again.”
Everything was great, and then this month, Oakland Park sent another letter.
Denny Dorcey: “This one was like $500,000 and change.”
The city that fined Denny $1,097,400, that admitted it was a mistake, had reinstated the same violation for $502,200, signed by the same city official who Denny spoke to back in December.
Denny Dorcey: “He assured me this was taken care of and resolved. This was not resolved.”
Clearly Denny doesn’t owe it, but it’s not clear what he needs to do now.
Denny Dorcey: “All I’m wondering is, you know, what’s the city going to do next?”
Well Howard, legally, what does the city need to do to stop this?
Howard: “Clearly the city made a mistake, again. It’s up to them to fix it, and to change their procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen to Denny and anyone else.”
I contacted Oakland Park about the half-million dollar fine.
The next day, they said they “issued that letter in error,” adding they “apologize for the confusion” and their “records have been corrected to prevent a recurrence,” relieving Denny, again.
Denny Dorcey: “You bet I am, and I am glad you guys are here for the community of South Florida because we need you, man.”
Denny is happy but, after being hit with those outrageous fines twice, a little skeptical.
Denny Dorcey: “I always believed that you should have good, old-fashioned trust and pride in the city you live in, but I just don’t trust these people.”
Well they tell us it’s fixed Denny, but we will stick with you to make sure those fines are gone for good.
And it is illegal to try to collect a debt that is not owed, but the law does not apply to government agencies. Plus, this wasn’t intentional; it was accidental.
Mistakes messing up your life? Wanna feel fine again? Lien on us to leave you feeling like a million bucks, or half a million.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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