Woman regains vacant home after court fight

After a costly, four-month ordeal, Danuta Brown regained the house and property taken out from under her.

When she walked into the Dover house on Raven Manor Drive on Wednesday, she wiped tears from her eyes. They weren't tears of happiness - the four-bedroom, three-bath house was filthy.

"I can't believe people would leave a house like this," Brown said. "This is such a mess, I can't believe it."

Brown eventually won back her property after a company called Chateau Lan took possession of her vacant house, citing Florida's adverse possession law. That law allows a person to take possession of abandoned property if he lives on it and pays taxes on it for seven years.

Though she was ultimately successful, Brown's long trip through the legal system was costly and time-consuming, and ended with her cleaning up a mess created by someone she had never intended to have live in her house.

It's a fight that's become increasingly common as several companies try to use adverse possession claims to put people in homes they don't own.

Chateau Lan's Chris McDonald Sr., of Plant City, says he's taken possession of about 20 houses in this manner. Records at the property appraiser's office show Chateau Lan has laid claim to a dozen properties through adverse possession.

In December, McDonald somehow gained access to Brown's property, which was going through foreclosure and which she was trying to sell. He placed 41-year-old Yvette Swain and her family in the 6-year-old house without Brown's knowledge or permission.

According to McDonald, Chateau Lan collects money to maintain the properties and pay property taxes.

"For the most part after neighbors see the quality of the clientele we put in the neighborhood, they say, 'I'm so glad you are here.'"

In early December, Brown discovered Swain and her family living on her property and the locks had been changed. She called the sheriff's office.

Brown hired real estate lawyer Mark Aubin.

Aubin advised Brown that because she did not have an agreement with the occupants, she could not evict them. She would have to file an unlawful detainer action.

"It's another way to get rid of squatters," he said.

In mid-January, Swain wrote the court a letter, stating she had an agreement with a management company. She also wrote that she offered to pay the property owner money but Brown had refused. A hearing was set for March.

"I will be out of this house by Feb. 1st, there was no reasoning with Mrs. Brown," Swain's letter stated.

When Brown showed up for the March 10 hearing, Hillsborough Judge Christine Vogel awarded her immediate possession of the property.

Swain showed up about 15 minutes after the hearing ended. She was still living in Brown's house.

"I've never been in anything like this before. It was a shocker to me when the owner showed up and the police and stuff was there, freaked me and my kids out," Swain said.

When informed the judge gave Brown immediate possession of the property, Swain said she didn't know what she was going to do.

"I'm a victim just like she is," Swain said.

Brown questions that.

"She knew exactly when police came that she was staying illegally in my house," Brown argued.

Six days after court, a deputy accompanied Brown to her Raven Manor Drive property.

The door was unlocked. The deputy checked the house and told Brown it was empty.

Four months after she learned McDonald had taken her house, Brown took it back.

"Oh, my god," she gasped as she walked through the door.

Garbage in bags and on the floors, cluttered bathrooms and kitchens and stained carpet throughout the house brought her to tears.

When contacted, McDonald said by text message that he had released Swain from his program in January. He wrote that Swain paid Brown from that moment on.

Brown said that's not so.

"I had to spend money for court, I have to spend money to clean up this garbage,'' Brown said. "Now we can see who is the victim."