Villagers may be discovering they have been making costly mistakes with improvements on property they do not own.
“It’s becoming more routine where people are doing improvements on property they do not own,” said District Manager Richard Baier.
It seems to be happening all across The Villages.
The Community Development District 4 Board of Supervisors has been wrestling with the issue with regard to some hardscaping that has taken place at a home on Lawson Loop in the Village of Piedmont. The work is an encroachment on property not owned by the homeowner.
But it’s hardly the only problematic property in CDD 4, which is located in Marion County.
“You’re probably talking about 70 percent of the homes,” said CDD 4 Supervisor Cliff Wiener.
Many homeowners have spent a lot of money to make these improvements. And if they have to remove them, they will be doing so at their own expense.
Thomas Rinker of 1462 Pelican Path in the Village of Sunset Pointe said he spent about $4,000 to put in landscaping 15 years ago on property he believed was under his ownership.
Several months ago, an anonymous complaint was received alleging he put the landscaping in the Sumter County right of way. Rinker claims he was unfairly targeted by the trolls who made the anonymous complaint, which was verified by Community Standards.
Rinker said he did not realize he had put the landscaping in the county’s right of way. He said his Properties of The Villages sales agent did not explain the limitations when he purchased his home in the deed-restricted community.
Rinker has been appealing his situation to the CDD 5 Board and Sumter County.
Such situations recently prompted an email from Sumter County Administrator Bradley Arnold.
“Per Sumter County Code Section 20-87, only utilities and driveways would be the only appurtenances permitted in the county’s maintained rights-of-way following the receipt of an application and review and approval of such. Stonework and stone edging and hardscape landscaping such as fountains would not meet the requirements of Section 20-87 for consideration of permitting within the maintained rights-of-way,” Arnold wrote in an email to the District Manager.
The topic will be on the agenda when several CDD boards meet this week.
