PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Dozens of homeowners in St. Lucie County are discovering they may owe thousands in unexpected costs and some worry they could lose their homes.
"We're in this beautiful new house," Peter Richardson said, "and I can't enjoy it, because I'm so bitter over it."
Richardson and his wife, Lois, moved into their home in Port St. Lucie in April.
Court records show Jetson TV and Appliance placed a $7,147 lien on his home in May.
The Richardson home was built by Port St. Lucie Properties. The lien claims the builder didn’t pay Jetson TV and Appliance for "appliances and related installation."
"It's added a lot of stress," Richardson said.
Stress is the last thing the retired music teacher needs. Richardson requires home dialysis treatments and also suffered a heart attack before he learned of the lien on his home.
"I can’t sleep," he said.
Meanwhile, in Fort Pierce, Ronnie Dinsmore is experiencing something similar. His home was also built by Port St. Lucie Properties.
"It's been a nightmare, honestly," he said.
He has two liens totaling $20,480, and he said the home still needs interior work.
"It's kept us from being in our home," Dinsmore said.
He and his wife pay a monthly rent plus a mortgage on this home they can't yet live in. He said it costs $3,600 a month.
Work appears to be at a standstill on Joshua Henry's Port St. Lucie Properties home.
"It's been at least three months since anyone's been here," he said.
Four contractors placed liens totaling $32,498 on his home.
He and his girlfriend signed a contract with the home builder to build the home in March 2022. They expected to be living here by now.
Contact 5 Investigative Reporter Dave Bohman took a tour of the unfinished home and stood in what should be a guest room. The room is right next to a bathroom, where a window should be installed, and beneath it was a bathtub filled with standing water from rain and the tub appears to be corroding.
Henry said the dumpster in front of his home sat full for three months.
No tarps cover the roof, and he fears consistent summer rain will weaken the unprotected house.
"It was a big commitment, a big investment when we started," Henry said, "and it's looking like it’s going to get a lot worse."
Henry, Dinsmore and Richardson are not alone.
Contact 5's investigation found contractors slapped liens on 87 properties in St. Lucie County, where the contractors said Port St. Lucie Properties failed to pay them for labor, materials or services.
WPTV looked at 200 liens online filed at The St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts Office. He then added up the costs.
Almost $3 million worth of liens have been filed since Feb. 1.
Contact 5 then looked at the 50 liens that were paid off. They totaled $700,000. Documents of these liens do not indicate how much was paid by Port St. Lucie Properties or from the pockets of homeowners wanting to remove these liens.
So, Contact 5 looked at the liens that remained outstanding and they total $2.2 million.
Contact 5 Investigative Reporter Dave Bohman looked into why 150 liens connected to Port St. Lucie Properties were still unpaid.
Contact 5 went to its office twice and a receptionist told WPTV the company president, Mark Montalto, was not available.
Contact 5 emailed Montalto twice and called his office but received no response.
Neither did the company’s Miami attorney.
Three homeowners facing property liens went to Port St. Lucie police.
Detectives emailed them saying, "This investigation will continue," and investigators are trying to get bank records and "such (a) request was sent via subpoena to the bank(s) late last week."
When Contact 5 looked at the list of liens on file, it was discovered Port St. Lucie Properties spent more than $120,000, since May 23, paying off liens on properties it owns.
That leaves homeowners, like Henry, seething.
He believes Port St. Lucie properties should have paid to remove his four construction liens.
Henry feared lienholders would foreclose on his partially built home, so he spent $32,000 cost, paying off the liens.
"My biggest fear is that I will be unable to recover it, the funds will essentially just be lost," he said.
Dinsmore has not paid off his.
"We're trying to figure out what we can do to get other contractors out here to work," he said.
Richardson said he and his wife live are getting by on pensions from their teaching careers.
"I don't know what's going to happen," he said.
They said it would be a struggle to pay the $7,000 lien while trying to save for an expensive generator that would keep his dialysis system running in a power outage.
His biggest concern is his health and trying to pay off the lien.
"That I die really soon, because of the stress over it," he said.