A woman who purchased a vacant lot in Hawaii for the meditative healing women’s retreats she hosts is now being sued after a construction company mistakenly built a $500,000 house on the plot.
In 2018, Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds purchased a one-acre (0.40-hectare) lot in Hawaiian Paradise Park, a subdivision in the Big Island’s Puna district. She thought she had found a convenient deal, buying the lot at a county tax auction for $22,500.
Reynolds was in California during the pandemic when she received a call from a real estate broker who informed her that the lot had been bulldozed and a half-a-million home had been built on the property.
Image credits: NBC Bay Area
“He told me, ‘I just sold the house, and it happens to be on your property. So, we need to resolve this,’” Reynolds told local news outlet Hawaii News Now. “And I was like, ‘What? Are you kidding me?’”
Local developer Keaau Development Partnership reportedly hired PJ’s Construction to build around a dozen homes on properties the developer bought in the subdivision, where the lots are identified by telephone poles.
Reynolds bought the plot in Hawaii at a county tax auction for $22,500
Image credits: NBC Bay Area
Image credits: NBC Bay Area
The developer is now suing Reynolds along with the construction company, the architect, the prior property owner’s family, and the county, which approved the permits.
The woman reportedly pays property taxes that go from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, as well as the cost of fencing for a house she doesn’t own.
“It’s awful. It’s awful,” she described.
While Keaau Development Partnership tried to settle the issue by offering Reynolds to swap her one for the lot right next door or sell her the home at a discount, she turned down both propositions.
“It would set a dangerous precedent if you could go on to someone else’s land, build anything you want, and then sue that individual for the value of it,” Honolulu Attorney James DiPasquale, hired by Reynolds, expressed.
Local developer Keaau Development Partnership is suing Reynolds as well as the construction company, the architect, and the county
Image credits: Hawaii News Now
Image credits: Hawaii News Now
As the three-bedroom, two-bath house is currently vacant, it has become an easy target for squatters and a nightmare for Reynolds.
“Before they put the fence on this property, there were already people coming to this property. I know kind of looking inside,” a neighbor told Hawaii News Now.
Watch a local report about the case below
Image credits: Hawaii News Now
All parties involved in the case believe they’re being reasonable, and the others aren’t. Therefore, the developer says he pulled everyone into the lawsuit so a judge could determine who should be held accountable for the mix-up.
“There’s a lot of fingers being pointed between the developer and the contractor and some subs,” DiPasquale shared.
Most people in the comments sided with the lot owner
