AN ELDERLY man is being forced out of his home of over 50 years after his family says his deed was sold behind his back.
Ray Cortez, 90, is fighting eviction from the Brooklyn brownstone bought in 1969.
His home was sold out from under him years ago due to a deed theft scam that dates back to 2006.
Now, his New York City neighborhood is fighting to prevent Cortez from leaving after he was ordered to leave in just days.
“This is very troubling that our city is allowing this to happen,” Council Member Shahana Hanif told WABC-TV.
“I call for an expedited investigation and to end the eviction proceedings.”
In 2006, an alleged scammer conned Cortez out of the title to his Park Slope home.
The conman then secretly took out a line of credit on the house worth nearly $700,000 and disappeared – and Cortez had no idea.
His family tried to stop the scam when they found out about the sale in 2015, but they were too late.
The home was foreclosed on and sold to a business in 2018 for $2 million.
The business is currently listed as the home’s legal owner – and they’re now trying to force Cortez out of the home where he raised his three children.
Cortez bought the home for $20,000 in 1969, but it’s now valued at over $3 million.
“He was the victim of an egregious deed theft scam,” Assemblywoman Jo Ann Simon said.
“We believe that because there is ongoing efforts to continue to take his house, this is warranted investigation.”
Cortez is expected to fight his case in housing court on Friday, but his family has concerns about the toll it has taken on the homeowner.
“It broke up the family,” Ray Cortez Jr. said, according to CBS News.
How can your home be sold without your consent?
Your home can be sold from under you for various reasons – here are three key things to look out for:
Tax Sale
- A tax sale is the sale of property by a governmental entity to recover unpaid taxes by the owner who has reached a certain point of delinquency in their owed payments.
- Before a tax sale takes place, there is a right-of-redemption period where the owner can pay off their debt and reclaim their home.
- Each state has different laws surrounding tax sales but in most areas, the basic requirement is that adequate notice is given to the owner to pay the outstanding money, and any sale must be open to the public.
Foreclosure
- Foreclosures can take place when lenders take control of a property after borrowers have failed to make their repayments.
- Borrowers will receive a Notice of Default, triggering the foreclosure process.
- Homeowners in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by their HOA for falling behind on fees.
- This means that even if you keep up with mortgage repayments, you could still lose your home if your HOA has a lien on your property.
- When such a foreclosure takes place, the sale price only needs to be enough to cover the HOA debt meaning that properties can be sold for much less than they are worth.
Property Fraud
- Criminals can use a fake or stolen ID to impersonate a homeowner in order to sell or mortgage homes.
- Typical targets for property fraud include absent owners like landlords, owners who live abroad, and sole owners of unmortgaged homes.
- The U.S. Sun previously reported on a man whose vacation home worth $300,000 was sold by criminals for just $9,000 – they even had the deed to the property.
“And it took a tremendous toll on my father and myself trying to deal with this and rectify it. And it wasn’t easy.”
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office told WABC-TV their hands were tied.
“We conducted thorough investigations in 2019 and 2022, striving to find any means to assist Mr. Cortez,” the DA office said.
“Unfortunately, even if we had uncovered evidence of a crime, legal constraints prevent us from taking action due to the statute of limitations.”
ANTI-THEFT LEGISLATION
Cortez isn’t the only victim of deed fraud.
The New York City Sheriff’s Office previously reported 3,500 deed theft cases from 2014 to 2023 – with the majority of them in Brooklyn and Queens, according to the attorney general’s office.
“If you go into certain neighborhoods, mostly communities of color in Brooklyn, kind of from Prospect Heights over towards East New York and then southeast Queens, everybody on every block knows somebody who has been a victim of deed theft or real estate fraud,” Cortez’s lawyer Bill Lienhard told CBS in August 2024.
Attorney General Letitia James passed new legislation in July to protect homeowners like Cortez from deed theft.
“Deed theft is a merciless crime that robs New Yorkers of their homes, communities, and financial stability,” James said at the time.
“By making deed theft the crime we know it to be, this law gives my office and district attorneys more power to stop these scammers from taking advantage of hardworking people.”
She added, “These critical reforms will help us keep New York families where they belong: in their homes.”
The AG’s office is currently reviewing Cortez’s case.
“Hopefully Attorney General James and District Attorney Gonzalez will finally look into this and do justice by my father,” Cortez Jr. said.
