Neighbours call for action after man returned home to land he bought in 1991 to find £1.2 million house on it
If you're the proud owner of a decent-sized chunk of land, let this be a lesson that you need to keep tabs on it.
Otherwise, you might end up like this bloke who got the shock of his life when he returned to his prized half-acre plot in his hometown, only to realise that a £1.2 million house had been built on top of it.
Dr Daniel Kenigsberg purchased the plot of land, which was situated next to his childhood home in Fairfield, Connecticut, back in 1991 and has held onto it for decades despite being approached numerous times to sell it.
He shrugged off offers of $400,000 (£314,000) in 2022 and instead opted to hold onto it, in the hopes that he could pass it down to younger generations in his family.
Advert
So when an old pal from his hometown rang him for a catch up and broke the news that construction had been underway on the land he owned, as you can imagine, Dr Kenigsberg wasn't best pleased.
According to CT Insider, he rushed back to Fairfield from Long Island to find that a four bedroom house had been erected on the site, which seemed to only need a few finishing touches.
It turns out that the land had been 'sold' to Sky Top Partners LLC for $350,000 (£275,000) back in October 2022.
According to a lawsuit filed by Dr Kenigsberg, the supposed sale of the land and subsequent construction of a house had been done without his knowledge.
He sued the firm on nine counts and was seeking damages and compensation of up to $2 million (£1.57 million).
The lawsuit also ordered the company to clear off his land and restore it to how it was before they thought they bought it.
CT Insider later reported that Gina Leto and Greg Bugaj of 51 Sky Top Partners LLC claimed they had fallen victim to a scam, instead 'buying' the plot of land from someone who had impersonated the landowner.
Speaking to NBC New York, Dr Daniel Kenigsberg alleged that a 'fraudulent deed' had been submitted which claimed they had the legal right to sell the land.
He fumed: "How the system fails, you know. When you have checks and balances, you have lawyers on each looking at things - how does this not get caught?"
Residents in Fairfield are just as frustrated by the situation, as construction on the home was halted following the legal action, so the street is now stuck in a stalemate... with no end in sight.
One neighbour who voiced concerns about how long the issue may take to work out said: "There's really nothing to look at. It's just... really, it's just an eyesore at this point."
Another local added: "People just keep driving by. They wanna see what’s going on. Take a look at the house. And it just causes traffic."
While a third chimed in: "I really just hope everyone involved gets what they need, because it seems like there are two victims in this case."
Dr Kenigsberg admitted he 'felt bad for the builder', adding: "It's a bad situation that tends to lose a lot of money."
Consumer protection lawyer Kevin Kneupper suggested that his claims were not that outlandish, as it is actually quite simple to pose as a landowner.
He explained: "It's really easy to go find who owns land. If you've never done searches on this, in most counties, you can actually just go, it depends on your state.
"But in many places, you just search online, they'll have databases, so they could find out real easily who's the actual owner and then just pretend to be him.
"Now, to be clear, his attorney and Mr. Kenigsberg, they are not accusing the people who bought it of being involved.
"They think that they sort of didn't know what was going on, and that someone in South Africa did this.
"And that's who the police are trying to go after to find where the money actually went to when they paid for it."
Olivia Burke