Real Estate Tip

Jurisdictional Wetlands Prohibit Residential Development

Finding the ideal location to build your new dream home can be a wonderful experience. However in the United States buyers need to be on the alert to watch out for a new scam that involves the sale of non-developable land to the public. The properties are sold in new subdivisions by unscrupulous developers and licensed realtors that advertise “residential home-sites”, “lakefront lots”, permitted “home sites”, etc., but the land cannot be legally developed. According to one victim’s official website “Florida Land Scam Victims”, many others have already fallen prey to such a con job, known as the “Swampland Scam” reminiscent of decades past notoriety.

The Florida-based swindlers modus operandi involves national advertising to unsuspecting victims via offering beautiful “single family residential” building sites. However, the property is protected government land called “Jurisdictional Wetlands” which are underground swamps without any visible surface water when sold. Many times the properties are illegally cleared prior to being marketed to the public, giving the appearance they are ready to build a home. Although swampland can be developed for a substantial cost, wetlands cannot be developed at all legally under any circumstances. Wetlands are protected nature preserves owned and controlled on a state level by “virtue of sovereignty”.

The scammers employ the use of county courthouse building officials to verify false information making everything appear authentic says one buyer who became a victim of the scam in Bradford County, Florida with her mother and husband who were going to build their home in the Edith Ellen Estates subdivision on Hampton Lake. They used a licensed realtor with 38-years experience, but he was in on everything too. The land purchased was even issued a parcel number by the county, the court gave out a survey not indicating the restrictions, and it was even recorded with a homeowner’s association too.

Jurisdictional Wetlands can never be permitted for residential development and are illegal to sell to the public as such. Wetlands can be purchased for as little as $100 an acre, and some have been sold for hundreds-of-thousands of dollars when marketed as home sites illegally by greedy underhanded schemers in desirable locations. Developers who sell such lots claim they are perfectly legal, however in one incident a 1.89-acre lot on Lake Hampton was 98% restricted by one of the Florida water districts except for only a “forty-foot” area. Additionally, many times contracts that are “bound by statutory warranty” are literally breached on every page. In most states including Florida the minimum area to develop any land for residential use requiring a septic system and water well is one-half acre. Additionally, no dimension can be less than one-hundred feet (100′ ft. x 218′ ft. equals a half acre) and measured as the “greatest distance” between “two parallel lines”, and must be “parallel to the street”.

Although this scam sounds very similar to the old joke of buying “Swampland in Florida”, it is much more blatantly fraudulent. With swampland the problem was usually not being able to access the property via a roadway, no public electricity, or thousands of dollars were needed to fill-in and un-swamp the land to make the property suitable for construction costing as much as building a home. To solve this problem buyers just had to personally inspect the property they were purchasing prior to buying them. However Jurisdictional Wetlands do not look like swamps because most of the time there is no visible surface water, and official public records are not easily obtainable. Additionally you cannot cut a blade of grass or step foot on wetlands, let alone camp or build anything. Real estate mogul Donald Trump himself and all the money in Fort Knox cannot legally develop a Jurisdictional Wetland once permitted as such in a subdivision.

Numerous laws exist to protect the public from such cons on a state and federal level, but enforcement is nonexistent anywhere due to budget cuts and the economy. So if you plan on purchasing vacant land, remember it can still be an extremely risky proposition. With no regulation, victims are left holding an empty bag of goods and paying property taxes for nothing but another’s cash windfall. Many victims are too embarrassed to go to the authorities, attorney fees can be exorbitant, and most cases usually go unreported. Eventually the bogus home-sites are sold again to other unsuspecting buyers and the restrictions remain concealed.

Should a victim file a lawsuit they are automatically countersued for slander and defamation by the con-men who inundate the courts with massive paperwork to camouflage the buyer’s claims. With a continuous barrage of paperwork on the courts the laws never get addressed and eventually completely ignored. Tens of thousands of dollars are spent by the swindlers on attorney fees that far exceed the original price of the land sold, thereby enabling the con to continue on and on. When countersuits fail, a “comedy of court clerical errors” continue from there. In a recent case in N. Florida, a jury trial was cancelled at the last minute against an adjudged court order, one judge quit the case, and another mysteriously disappeared after ruling against the defendants. To make matters worse, most claims never get addressed by the court, hearings are denied, and attorneys eventually quit the case after personally enriching themselves generously. The biggest fraud of all in the Florida case was the chief district judge and the sellers were all family. With the “fox guarding the hen-house”, the lack of a legal remedies do nothing more than provide the perfect breeding ground for the snake oil salesmen to thrive.

IMPORTANT: Use extreme caution when purchasing any undeveloped land anywhere when acquired for future development. Government enforcement and/or compliance of federal law, state law, and local ordinances should not be relied upon alone. Failure to adhere to these precautions can result in astronomical legal fees far exceeding the amount of any resulting claims. Obtain only stamped approvals with a certified “official court seal” from authorities in the correct jurisdiction where the prospective property is located prior to entering any contract. Additionally, independent surveys from “non-interested” parties are essential and should always under all circumstances be obtained prior to close of escrow. Inexperienced purchasers are encouraged to seek professional assistance and guidance via reputable real estate attorney. Use of licensed realtors with vast experience is no substitute for the preceding advice since conflicts of interest often do occur and are highly possible. Those who receive any suspect advertisements are advised not to invest without further investigation, and to forward anything suspicious to authorities.

For more information, please go to: http://www.fllsv.com and STOP REAL ESTATE FRAUD NOW.

This story has been featured in “How To Win Any Lawsuit - Secrets Revealed”, and can be obtained on Ebay.

Florence_Gata

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