A bad situation for a landowner in Hawaii has only gotten worse in recent weeks.
Annaleine (Anne) Reynolds purchased a one-acre lot on the Big Island of Hawaii for roughly $22,500 at a county tax auction a few years ago. What she thought was her good luck has now turned into a troubling legal battle.
Plans for the Lot
When Anne bought her dream property in the Hawaiian Paradise Park, she thought she would one day move there to build her dream.
She had plans of building a meditative healing women’s retreat on the land to provide much needed mental health support to the women in her community.
Finding a New House on Her Property
As reported by Hawaii News Now, Anne was shocked to find out from a real estate broker that a house was built on her lot without her permission.
Last year, a three-bedroom house was built on the lot. The $500,000 house was built by a developer and sold off to a new owner without discovering the massive mistake.
Origins of the Home
After the development company, Keaau Development Partnership, LLC, hired a local construction company, they built about a dozen homes in the area.
In a subdivision of the Big Island’s Puna district, the developer and construction company made a massive profit due to their ability to purchase large pieces of land and sell beautiful homes in a short period of time.
The Developer Is Trying To Assign Blame
Unfortunately, the developer has decided that everyone else should now pay for their mistake.
The company has thrown out heavy lawsuits both to the company that they contracted to build the homes and to Anne, the original property owner for not accepting their first offer.
The Landowner Just Wants What She Purchased
Although the developer offered to sell her the house or allow her to swap the property for a piece of undeveloped land nearby, Anne says that she just wants what she originally purchased.
Keaau Development is now suing Anne because they believe that she is attempting to extract more money for the mistake.
Setting a Dangerous Legal Precedent
Although she could accept the new lot a few miles away from her original property, legal representation for the landowner, James DiPasquale, says that this could set a dangerous precedent.
A development company should not be able to walk onto someone else’s land and build a house without any legal repercussions.
Landowners Spirituality Called Into Question
Originally, Anne said that she didn’t want a new lot due to her spiritual connection to the land. However, the Hawaiian owned developers don’t believe her.
An attorney for the developers has stated that their client finds Anne’s statement about a spiritual connection to a place that she’s never even visited to be disingenuous and culturally offensive.
Anne Pushed Into an Experience She Never Asked For
Anne’s legal council maintains that she deserves a payout for the experience due to her apprehension in the involvement.
The burden that the house brings, along with this ugly legal battle, are things that Anne never asked to, or consented to, be involved with.
Squatters Are Now Living in the Home
Since the beautiful home in Hawaii has been sitting vacant for so long, messy squatters have moved into the house.
Due to the lengthy legal process needed to get squatters evicted from a property, it’s unclear if Anne could even enter the home to enjoy the space.
Big Surprise When She Finally Visited the Property
Anne knew that she needed to finally land in Hawaii to visit the property and see the new house for herself.
After learning that squatters had taken up residence she went in with apprehension. She found that the home had been trashed and treated, quite literally, as a toilet.
Skyrocketing Property Taxes
Due to the new home built on her lot, Anne says that her property taxes have increased dramatically without an ability to pay for the new bill.
Since a $500,000 house wasn’t within her budget, she doesn’t have the funds to currently pay for the upkeep, which includes house insurance and property tax. Both of these bills can be extremely expensive in Hawaii due to natural disasters and the beauty of the location.
