A property owner returns to CT, finds a new $1.5M house on his land. Now police are involved

[Coventina]

For the last two years, the online land records page in the town of Fairfield has offered a “fraud alert” service. Anyone can sign up to see legal filings on their property. It’s part of the careful new world – but no one could anticipate the situation that’s unfolding on Sky Top Terrace, near Sacred Heart University.

Dr. Daniel Kenigsberg grew up in a house his parents bought on the semicircular street in 1953, when he was a 1-year-old. After medical school in New York and residency in Maryland, he and his wife raised their two children on Long Island, across the Sound from Fairfield.

Kenigsberg never lost his fondness for the town. For decades, he held on to a vacant parcel of just under a half-acre next door to his childhood home. His father had bought that land, also in 1953, directly from Eleazar Parmly Jr. -- the family that settled the area in 1716.

*** snip ***

On May 31 of this year, Kenigsberg received a call with bad news from a childhood friend still in Fairfield. His closest pal growing up was in a hospice in the town. And by the way, the friend mentioned, they’re building a house on the lot next to his old home.

They're doing what? "I said, ‘I own that and I never sold it,’” Kenigsberg recounted this week. “I was shocked.”

https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/house-built-on-fairfield-lot-18261063.php

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What a nightmare!!!

Here's the listing for the illegal house on Coldwell Banker:

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ct/fairfield/lot-2-sky-top-terrace/pid_52933931/

[jimfields33]

1. A beautiful home. I'd paint the house though.

I hope he gets the land back.

[Warpy]

47. Sort of blinding white, but that's what sells those places

I'd want to fix that roof line, what the fuck is that gable doing on one end? It looks like they started a third floor, built the gable for the staircase, then ran out of money. Or that's when the real owner showed up and the builder went "oh shit."

It's not really that great, the rooms are pretty small for a yuppie barn. The staging is barely there to make the rooms look bigger. This is an investment house, something someone would buy, half furnish for weekends, and hold onto until it made a profit, then sell to somebody with more money than brains who would tear it down and build a bigger yuppie barn on the lot.

Except, oops, the lot was stolen.

[Clash City Rocker]

2. Usually squatters can't afford a house like that

[Botany]

3. Well it looks like the Dr. just got a million dollar home for free and the crooks behind it will ...

.... get to pay all the taxes on it and maybe go to jail too. So somebody from South Africa using the
real owner's name gave P.O.A. to a local lawyer to sell the property. That lawyer, the bankers, the
real estate company, and the developers are going to be in a world of shit.

*****

"Town records point the way toward the story. On Oct. 18, 2022, Daniel Kenigsberg of Johannesburg, South Africa granted the power of attorney – the right to sign legal documents on his behalf -- to Anthony Monelli, a Trumbull lawyer. That same day nine months ago, a firm known as 51 Sky Top Partners LLC purchased the lot from Kenigsberg, or so the land records show, for $350,000."

[3Hotdogs]

4. Wonder if "Kenigsberg" is now living in Nigeria.

[orleans]

41. exactly. he sounds like a real prince

[3Hotdogs]

59. Thread drift. I actually know a Nigerian prince. His late father was village chief.

Nice guy.

[orleans]

60. that's cool; i was thinking of those stupid spamy emails

people used to get (including me) about sending money etc.

[dutch777]

13. My thoughts too, if he wants the house. Seems like he wants to make a point a have it torn down.

Will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I can see the builder having grounds to sue as well if he was not in on the land deal and thought there was clear and honest title held by his client.

[Botany]

16. Seems to me the local lawyer who got the P.O.A. from the man in South Africa seems more than ...

... a little sketchy because the rightful owner of the property was living on Long Island and had been paying
the property taxes on the land and to transfer the title of that land should have meant a title search. Some-
body had to have done a title search of the property and gotten the rightful owners name and then hired
somebody to use that name in order to sell the property. I hope Connecticut's BCI or State Police and the
county's D.A. get on this. Would be of interest to see the lawyer's phone and or email history and see if
any of it is linked to Johannesburg, S.A..

It would be nice if the good Dr. to bulldoze the house down and make a little "pocket park" out of it.

[TNNurse]

23. Yeah, those property tax records are crucial.

[plimsoll]

33. Part of the problems in 2008 were caused by the electronic title services

Sounds like someone just figured out how build another scam out of those.

[Igel]

30. The "tear down" requirement is intriguing.

Seems to me that it might just be a requirement--restore the property to the former state, deny any benefit that might be the basis for some sort of claim. (Not a lawyer here.)

At the same time, it might be a way to make the strongest claim possible because tearing that down will not be cheap, so waiving any right to it on the part of the defendants (or the actually guilty party or anybody else that might have some sort of claim based on the existence of the house) might be a way of escaping some of the monetary claims.

Or maybe the actual owner of the property is just pissed.

[Coventina]

32. Unfortunately, there is no way to restore the property to its former state,

since they cut down all the trees that were there.

[intheflow]

44. He doesn't want a house.

The article says the suit is calling for all structures to be removed from the land and the land returned to its former state. Basically asking for it to be reforested as the developers clear cut what had become a forested lot over time.

[hedda_foil]

56. The attorney behind this is one of the three partners in the development company.

It's all the same scam.

[Warpy]

38. And nobody bothered to do a search to find out who was paying the taxes

and it clearly wasn't some asshole in South Africa.

A whole bunch of people are going to be in serious trouble and the lawsuits and counter suits are going to last years.

Meanwhile, the yuppie barracks will have to be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere or sectioned and moved off the lot. Or struck by scammer lightning. Or just very expensively torn down.

He didn't want that monstrosity, he wanted trees. They razed the lot to build that thing. That's where the real damage was done, destroying mature trees and wildlife habitat.

[intheflow]

45. They used his name so it would have shown

he was the one who paid the taxes.

[Warpy]

48. It also would have shown his address

It sure does around here.

[Attilatheblond]

58. Have relative who is a senior land title examiner. She has been talking about all the new frauds

She is VERY, um, persnickety and diligent in her work. She also has had to deal with lots of realtors and escrow officers who are not only not diligent, they are lazy to the point of negligence or complicity with fraudsters. The insurance underwriters she works with LOVE her, as she catches all manner of red flags. Shysters are NOT so fond of her. Lazy escrow people who will go along with questionable or flatly wrong requests to turn a blind eye or just not do the basic fiduciary work their positions require if it means a commission, hate her because she insists THEY do their part of the job and she will not back down and let deals go thru until things are correct.

SO much fraud and so many newly legal ways to avoid doing property searches properly, gee, it's gonna be the rare case when fraud isn't a constant risk in real estate.

Look to pols who strive to 'cut red tape and eliminate excessive regulations' to find out how fraud is becoming so easy anymore. Look to corporations who want to cut payroll costs by allowing lots of rules to be bent and outright ignored.

Buyer beware is not even close enough to being a sound warning. Our culture seems to only be about profit and too many lawmakers are just fine with that as they pocket 'donations' and deliver legislation that questionable business people, industries give them to introduce as bills.

Want safe rules in society? Vote wisely. Currently, the crooks seem to own about 49% of the people in office making the rules.

[ecstatic]

61. holy crap.

The lawyer - Anthony Monelli is either a crook or an idiot.

[NowISeetheLight]

5. Wow

I’ve seen that infomercial about home titles being stolen. I figured it was just a moneymaking type deal. To actually see a case where someone stole a piece of land on paper is incredible.

[Coventina]

7. It also stuns me that with the criminal case going on, the property is still listed!!

Buyer beware!!!

[70sEraVet]

18. The realtor will just add, " Buyer must move home. Quickly!"

[Hortensis]

22. :) Don't know about CT, but in CA the general rule is that if a

seller (or agent) doesn't want to disclose something they probably have to. I'm guessing this would qualify

[paleotn]

25. Ah, but they didn't steal the title. That's still in the name of the rightful owner.

It's whoever is "toting the note", i.e. who loaned the money for construction, who's taking it in the shorts for lack of due diligence, fraud or both. For whatever title insurance doesn't cover, if there was any title insurance in the deal.

[dalton99a]

6. A must read.

[ZonkerHarris]

8. I see a lawyer about to lose his license and maybe go to jail.

[Paladin]

9. Some title company is in BIG fucking trouble. (nt)

[Bayard]

10. That's what I'm thinking

Where's the title search? Can't buy/sell land without it.

[Botany]

20. Egg Zack Lee

"Where's the title search?" Considering the real owner lived right across the way on Long Island
and had been paying the property taxes on it for years.

[NowISeetheLight]

11. Title Search

When I’ve bought my homes and refinanced there is always a fee for a title search. I can’t believe a bank financed a new home build.

[Stuart G]

12. UNBELIEVABLE.

[JHB]

14. I wonder if this is part of the legacy of the Robosigning scandal...

...and the way that screwed around with the chain of title. Even if this property was never sold, it could be a victim of unsavory practices that had a feeding ground in the wake of the scandal.

[plimsoll]

34. Most likely.

Yet another whole the didn't fill.

[Sympthsical]

15. Love that diagonal open plan

With the kitchen flowing into dining area flowing into living room. Don't like the TV over the mantle like that, tho. So awkward. Feel like I'd get a neck ache trying to stream something. Also, what is up with the lighting fixtures. The track lighting in the home office is turrible.

Considering I hawk Pepsi can wind chimes on Etsy for a living and my partner sells frogs to local circuses, the best we can do is $1.2 million.

Yes, what happened to the man's land is a shitshow. Hope he gets it back and more.

But I do like that floor plan on the ground floor.

[Old Crank]

28. Based on the floor plan

The dining area goes to the family room. The useless living room is further back. 4000 square feet. Makes this a trophy house but this is just a bunch of white rooms and wasted space. I cook and I think the kitchen needs work. After living with drawers in my kitchen under my counters those doors would have to go. Same with the slide in gas range. Would want an oven higher up and space for a microwave. No real pantry foe a kitchen and house that large.

[Sympthsical]

49. "The useless living room"

Yeah, we have one of those. 3,400 square feet and there's two of us. It was a steal at the time. But there's like an entire half of the ground floor that neither of us nor company uses. Everyone congregates where the TV is. I think I can count on two hands the number of times I've actually gone in there and sat down in the past four years. We have bamboo floors, and I keep joking one day I'll turn it into a roller rink.

I agree with you about the white rooms and pointless space. I imagine the builders designed it that way so it would be easily customizable. I have so many questions about how that house is staged. Why is there a pseudo-desk in the sitting room like they're about to subject guests to impromptu job interviews?

Agree about the pantry situation. My kitchen has a separate walk-in under the stairs. And it's just like . . . what did I ever do without a pantry? Stuff food in the cabinets basically. So nice to have everything in one place. Agree about the stove. I do not like bending while cooking. Feels weird. Was going to make fun of the wine fridge in the kitchen. Like, why? We have one built into a wet bar (because Napa) that we never use. But using kitchen space for it seems so odd.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

17. Wow

I can't even imagine from either the landowner side or the attorneys, title company, etc. WTAF.

[Snackshack]

19. Okay...

My last name is very common. I have had several experiences with confusion and wierd associations. When I refi’d my house I ended spending several weeks getting a bankruptcy I had in Texas cleared up so the refi could be done. Problems was I’ve only been to Texas a number of times just for a day for a Cowboys game then back home to Az at the time. I finally got this cleared up but I don’t know that I would have ever known a bankruptcy had been erroneously attributed to me if I had not refinanced the house.

[Hortensis]

26. !

[TNNurse]

29. Common last names make it easier, but screw ups still occur.

I have a younger cousin who went to rent an apartment. He was told that there were police records on his background report. He went to research. There were minor financial discrepancies and some misdemeanors. He asked for the date of these records, they were from when he was 8 years old. His last name is Summerour. First name not simple like Bill or John. He showed them his ID and got the apartment.

[plimsoll]

35. Similar problem.

I like screwing with the debt collectors though. I usually ask them to verify my SSN, when they give it to me I ask if I can get both benefits, mine and the person with the name just like mine.

[58Sunliner]

21. What a crazy story. Maybe the lawyer is the LLC and the Kenisberg in SA is a fake intermediary

and no money changed hands. The LLC pays the taxes on free land (if any are due),and then builds a house for profit. Here in RVA a cash sale is not taxed. It also shows as an invalid transfer on title with no name. Pretty slick if you can pull it off in short order. That would leave the original owner scrambling to prove he did not sell the property and that could take years. Hell of a gamble for the lawyer.

[plimsoll]

36. Maybe he's a Republican.

Different rules apply.

[SouthernDem4ever]

24. These scams are becoming more commonplace.

County tax assessors and title companies need to up their game on verifying who the hell is transferring the title. It's far too easy for this to happen in my places.

[twodogsbarking]

27. Get off my lawn.

And thanks for the house.

[orleans]

40. LOL! nt

[Sogo]

31. This is unbelievable!!

Rather than forcing them to tear it down, though, they should make them move it to another lot and donate it as a homeless shelter....

[intheflow]

46. I like that idea.

It would cost more to move it than tear it down, plus they’d forever know homeless people were living there for free as they serve jail time. Damn, a girl can dream, right?

[Sogo]

52. Or, they should be forced to move it....

and have a drawing for a single mother with children.

[intheflow]

55. Yes!

Partner with Habitat for Humanity!

[Vinca]

37. Well, if Dr. Kenigsberg owns the land, it seems he's suddenly got himself a new house.

He couldn't be held for repayment of any mortgage because it would be a fraudulent mortgage. Guess this is what happens as banks go to automated appraisals where a human doesn't have anything to do with it.

[bpj62]

39. POA

The attorney is where this starts and ends. First off this is what I do for a living and per our underwriter we are encouraged to have the seller come in and sign the deed in person because we want to visually ID them and review thier ID. It is common practice for Americans working overseas to go to.the American Embassy or Consulate to get documents notarized. The notary who witnessed the signing should have ID the person signing the POA. I bet they will find out that the notary was a fake as well. Sadly the builder and the new owner as well as bank lending the money all have claims but they will be in second position to the original owner.
I has seen a fair amount of fraud in this business but this one is a first for me. I am forwarding this article to our underwriter to use as an example of why not to accept POA for sales.

[johnnyfins]

42. Why do I have the feeling

That we will be hearing more and more stories like this

[iluvtennis]

43. Wow, this is so sad. n/t

[Captain Zero]

65. what's sad is the landscaping and lawn. It's crap for that price.

A few little bushes too close to the house.
Looks like a little seed was thrown out, grass is sparse. Most homes that expensive anywhere would have nice new sod, wouldn't they?
The one side literally dumps water on the neighbor.

Does this house have a FLAT roof over a portion of it? Or is it pitched to the back? Either way there absolutely NO photo of the back of the house or back yard/lot. Nor the full roof lines.

I'm guessing a lot of money laundering happened here.

[EleanorR]

50. Somebody is clearly living in that house

A few rooms are obviously occupied and there's shampoo and such in the shower. What a weird story.

[Hamlette]

51. loved this description of Trump from the article: maggot-infected fungus overtaking his cranial lobe

sort of describes what he did to the US. Full quote:

Trump insisted Rozelle wanted him in the NFL. Rozelle insisted he would rather have maggot-infected fungus overtaking his cranial lobe.

[Fiendish Thingy]

53. Didn't the buyers get title insurance?

If they didn’t they deserve to lose every penny.

And if they did, the title insurance company will probably go out of business.

[Backseat Driver]

54. Wow, identity theft often has lots of conspiritors:

Brokers, notaries, title researchers, county officials who don't bother checking signatures on registered documents like Promissory Notes - that lawyer with the POA is definitely complicit in all this crazy story of people who should have known better, got a little bonus, or just plain did NOT do their job - a rolling cluster-you know what!

[LeftInTX]

57. These things are happening more frequently.

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/another-twist-s-a-couple-s-battle-get-home-bought-18168148.php

https://archive.ph/wno5t

Yet another twist in San Antonio couple's long-running battle to get title to home they bought

Robert and Karen Rickman have been waging a long legal battle to get ownership of a North Central San Antonio home they paid more than $400,000 for five years ago.

Despite an arbitrator awarding them the title to the house and land at 24442 Canyon Row and a judge entering the award as a court judgment, they still don’t have the keys to the property.

Now, the property has been listed for next week’s foreclosure auction.

[Solly Mack]

62. Someone did that on my BIL's brother's property. They went to check on the property and there sat a

new house. Wasn't completed but it was down to finishing the floors in a couple of rooms. Little else. The wood flooring was in boxes and ready to go. Those two rooms and the final clean-up through the house. That's it.

Long story short - he got a new home free and clear. After the judge ruled in his favor.

The pirate homesteader even had to pay all court costs.

People do some fucked up shit.

[Coventina]

63. Assuming your BIL was eventually going to build, it worked out!

I guess we have pirates on land, now


Yeesh

[Solly Mack]

64. They were eventually and it did work out. They loved the house.