Tenants forced from home

Englewood homeowner wonders if his five Latino renters were targeted.

Article Courtesy of The Sarasota Herald Tribune

ENGLEWOOD -- By levying fines and threatening court action, an Englewood homeowners association has forced five carpenters from their rental home and prompted the homeowner to put his retirement house up for sale.

The Gardens of Gulf Cove Property Owners' Association claimed the five tenants, all Mexican nationals, violated a deed restriction that only a "single family" could live in the home.

   

But legal experts say the rule is vague and could be applied to any household of two or more unrelated residents. The homeowner worries his tenants were targeted because of their ethnicity. "It saddens me. That's the place we wanted to live and start a retirement," said William Rennie, a Naval commander based in Hawaii who hoped to retire in Gardens of Gulf Cove. "They've changed the course of my life with their actions." Rennie's troubles started when the association board learned his five unrelated tenants, who work construction on a nearby Englewood Road duplex, were renting the three-bedroom home. For nearly a year, Pedro Juarez and his roommates had lived quietly in the well-kept Thorman Avenue home. Neighbors said they never had a problem with the tenants.

THE ISSUE The Gardens of Gulf Cove Property Owners' Association claims five tenants violate a deed restriction that only a "single family" may live in a home. THE RESPONSE Legal experts say the rule is vague, and homeowner William Rennie fears his tenants were targeted because of their ethnicity.

Juarez said he enjoyed the neighborhood when he and his housemates weren't at the job site 11 hours day.

But then the property owners association introduced itself to Rennie in a December letter sent to Kekaha, Hawaii, where he helps run the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
The letter stated that Rennie's five tenants were violating the community's "single-family" regulation.

An anonymous hand had penned in to add clarity to the rules: "SINGLE FAMILY ONLY -- NO ROOM RENTALS."

In a letter May 25, the association levied a fine of $25 a day up to $1,000 and threatened to take Rennie to small-claims court if he didn't pay by June 21.

"This is how you're going to welcome me to my community? I don't want any part of it," Rennie said this week from Hawaii.

He mailed a $1,000 check and a strongly worded letter to the association this weekend and asked his sister to place the house on the market immediately.

Homeowners association members and their attorney have declined numerous opportunities to comment on the violation or to define the "single-family" rule.

It's unclear whether the association issued similar "single-family" violations throughout the community.

Tallahassee lawyer Peter Dunbar, an expert in homeowner association law, said an association can say how many people may live in a home. But he said the rules would have to provide a number, such as residents allowed per room.

The regulations at Gardens of Gulf Cove don't specify much beyond the phrase "single family," which Dunbar said is probably too unclear to be legally enforced.

To apply the rule fairly, he said, the association would have to cite every household that isn't a "single family," including unmarried couples and elderly roommates.

"You have to treat everyone the same," said Dunbar, author of "The Florida Homeowners' Association Manual."

Williams said he fears the men were targeted because of their race.

"I don't want to speculate that that's what's happening, but I've seen enough to make me raise an eyebrow," he said.

Representatives of the association referred to the tenants' Mexican background in conversations, according to the home's leasing agent and the homeowner's sister, Stacey Rennie, who has represented her brother before the association and also owns a home in the Gardens of Gulf Cove.

Ironically, she said she first moved into the community in a rental home she shared with four or five other roommates. No one ever said anything to her about breaking the rules.

The rental agent, Sandra Griener of Bradenton-based Wagner Realty, said she has always followed a company policy allowing two people per bedroom. When she was alerted to the problem in Gardens of Gulf Cove, a representative from the neighborhood asked if she was aware of "immigration laws."

In addition, Stacey Rennie said a representative of the association referred to her brother's tenants as the "Mexican boys."

Rennie and his wife, who is Filipina, question the tolerance level of the association board. The couple has two children, ages 13 and 8, who are white and Filipino.

"We're a little different," Rennie said.

After 20 itinerant years in the Navy, Rennie was looking forward to next year, when he would settle his family into a permanent home. He has seen it only in pictures.

"I might be moving to the area, but it certainly won't be the Gardens of Gulf Cove," he said.

Juarez said he and his friends hope to move to a rental home elsewhere as early as next week even though their $1,100-a-month lease continues through July.

"I got to go," Juarez said. "I don't want to cause any problems."