Daytona attempts remedy for derelict rental homes

City commissioners approved a deal Wednesday aimed at turning around two beachside rental homes that have churned out lawlessness and code violations, but the neighbors who have begged for help are worried the trouble isn't going to stop.

The deal commissioners approved by a 6-1 vote strips ownership from Daytona Ocean Rentals, and includes plans to clean up the rental properties on Braddock Avenue.

But Mike Manderville, who lives next door to the two homes that share the lot beside his, is afraid the deal won't end "the living hell" he said started when Daytona Ocean Rentals bought the pair of 67-year-old houses one block from the ocean.

Manderville told commissioners a man who lives in one of the homes and manages the property told him just before Wednesday's meeting that a former business partner with Daytona Ocean Rentals will be involved again as part of the deal. And that former business partner will just hand control back to the current registered agent for Daytona Ocean Rentals, Elden York, Manderville said.

"I know this is a scam," Manderville insisted before commissioners voted. "The city is being taken advantage of. This man knows how to play the system."

City Attorney Robert Jagger said he didn't "see any indication of a plot."

Manderville said the deal should ban York from the property. York lived on the property for two years, and was arrested there once in connection with a drug raid and once on charges he assaulted a tenant. Manderville believes York has allowed in all the tenants and squatters who have caused problems.

After listening to Manderville and several other people concerned about problems continuing, the mayor and five of the six commissioners OK'd the deal as it was proposed. City Commissioner Ruth Trager, who said the deal doesn't have enough assurances for success, cast the lone no vote.

Daytona Ocean Rentals took over the pair of rental homes on Braddock Avenue in August 2014. In the three years since, Manderville said he's endured dog barking, loud fights, drug use and random noise in the middle of the night.

The two multifamily homes have also racked up $40,000 in liens for code violations for a rotting roof, electrical hazards, a dilapidated balcony, missing smoke detectors, broken windows, bug infestation and lack of water service.

The city has a pending foreclosure action on those liens, and the mortgage holder has a pending foreclosure action for nonpayment on the loan. Under the new deal, city officials will accept just $2,500 in lien payments in exchange for the mortgage holder, Civic Holdings I Trust, to become the new owner of the homes in the 600 block of Braddock Avenue.

Civic Holdings has already written a letter saying it will remedy the code violations visible from outside within 30 days of taking over, and enroll the property in the police department's Trespass Arrest Program. Civic Holdings has also committed in writing that it will obtain both a business license and residential rental license to legally lease the units, and that will require passing a code inspection of the property inside and out.

Jagger said Civic Holdings planned to clear out the current tenants and keep the property vacant while repairs were being made.

Daytona Ocean Rentals has agreed to provide Civic Holdings with a deed in lieu of foreclosure to make it all possible.

Jagger said it's the best deal the city is likely to get.

"If the foreclosure case is not settled, the city will have no assurance that code violations would be remedied in the near term," Jagger wrote in a June 16 memo to city commissioners. "And the city's code liens, all of which are inferior to the mortgage, would likely be extinguished at the conclusion of the foreclosure proceeding."

The mortgage on the homes is $252,750, and the combined assessed value for the parcels is $174,167, Jagger said. City officials doubt they could sell the houses for high enough prices to recover the $40,000 lien.

City Commissioner Aaron Delgado, an attorney, agreed that if the city did nothing it would probably lose the full $40,000 and "we'll have nothing to show for it."

"I don't see anything we could do differently or better," Delgado said. "I think it's the best we can do in this situation."

Jagger noted that the city's liens will be valid until the other parties comply with all terms of the agreement, and new code fines can be levied in the future.

Manderville and others told commissioners the deal doesn't do enough to protect them or the city.

"It sounded good to begin with," Manderville said.

Manderville's girlfriend, Denise Dabato, who owns the home the couple shares, also pleaded to scrap the deal.

"I can't go through another three years of living next to drug addicts and prostitutes," she said.

Susan French, who lives in the 500 block of Braddock Avenue, is also losing patience.

"You used to be able to hear a pin drop on the street," French said. "Now at 2 a.m. you have meth heads riding bikes down the road looking in cars."

Beachside resident Kristin Span implored commissioners not to reduce the properties' liens, and not to finalize anything until the code violations were remedied.

"I'm so mad I'm shaking," Span told commissioners. "It makes me sick. We need new staff for our city tax dollars."

Amanda Moreno, who lives near the Braddock Avenue rental homes, said it would be "horrible" if York maintained control and problems continued.

"We were all so happy this nightmare was ending," Moreno said.

Beachside resident Amy Pyle said she's OK with the lien reductions, but she wanted to see them contingent on the code problems being fixed.

"It sounds like we're being taken," Pyle said.

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