‘It’s deception’: Buyer claims he was scammed by online property auction

Kerville Holness thought he had scored an entire house for a bargain basement price. But a bizarre blunder has left him out of pocket.

Kerville Holness forked out thousands of dollars for a house — only to be left with a virtually worthless patch of land valued at just $50 instead.

The bizarre case has made international headlines after the Florida man claimed he was duped into paying $US9100 ($AU13,226) for what he mistakenly believed to be an entire villa worth $177,000 ($AU257,265).

Instead, he actually purchased a 0.3m wide by 30m long “strip of grass” which separates two residential properties.

He bought the land in March through an online auction of tax-defaulted properties, which was held by Broward County.

Mr Holness told local paper the Sun Sentinel his land contained two mailboxes which belonged to the owners of the neighbouring properties — and nothing else.

The property he now legally owns stretches from the street kerb and runs underneath a garage wall and out to the back.

The buyer was left with a thin strip of land — and not a house. Picture: Google Earth

“If I’m vindictive enough, I can cut right through the garage wall and the home to get to my air space, but what use would that be to me?” Mr Holness told the publication.

“It’s deception. There was no demarcation to show you it’s just a line going through (the villa duplex), even though they have the tools to show that.”

Mr Holness claims he was misled and he is now pushing to have the deal cancelled, and his money returned.

He argues he only decided to bid on the land after property appraiser photos allegedly showed that the villa was the object up for sale, and that there was no information which indicated it was actually the land strip being sold.

But according to Fox News, refunds aren’t allowed in such circumstances under Florida state law.

And the Sun Sentinel reports that information revealing “the negligible value of the property” and that there was “no building value” was clearly available online.

However, it is not known why that thin parcel of land was not attached to either of the neighbouring properties in the first place.

Instead, it remained the property of developer GHO Tamarac II.

The company ended up failing, and the land went to auction when taxes failed to be paid on the strip.

According to the Broward auction website, tax deed sales like the one Mr Holness made “are not for the uninformed”.

“It is imperative that anyone interested in participating in the tax deed sale performs due diligence including a full title and line search prior to bidding on any property,” the site states.

“Prospective bidders should not solely rely on this website and/or its links for information about a property.

“Broward County ​does not guarantee the condition of any property. All properties are sold ‘buyer beware — sold as is’.”

Mr Holness was one of four bidders on the site.

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