Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@kevinkneupper/Google Maps
Topics: US News
Anish Vij
A lawyer has explained how a new $1.5 million house was built on a man's land without him knowing.
Dr. Daniel Kenigsberg was shocked to discover a four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot house, suddenly appearing next to the land of his childhood home.
He purchased the half-acre strip at 51 Sky Top Terrace in Connecticut back in 1991, just outside of New Haven.
The spot was close to the site of his childhood home, which his dad bought in 1953 for just $5,000.
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However, Dr. Kenigsberg's world came crashing down when he was told by a close friend that some building work had begun on the parcel of land.
"I said, ‘I own that and I never sold it'. I was shocked," he told Greenwich Time.
Dr. Kenigsberg decided to immediately book a trip to Long Island to find out what was going on.
He soon learnt that the new home was subject to an offer following its listing back in March.
The land was bizarrely sold to 51 Sky Top Partners LLC for $350,000 back in October 2022.
Dr. Kenigsberg is now suing the firm involved on nine counts, including trespass, statutory theft, and unfair trade practices.
A consumer protection lawyer has since explained how such a situation like this was able to happen in the first place.
Taking to TikTok, Kevin Kneupper said: "Well, his name is Daniel Kenigsberg and someone who claimed to have the same name - it probably was just made up in a forgery - basically signed what's called 'a power of attorney', which is the right to sign legal documents on someone's behalf.
"So they forge a document that claims (to be) from the owner, this Daniel Kenigsberg guy, someone in South Africa forged it, and then goes around to a property company and, you know, sells them the land, showing them the document claiming that they have the legal right from the owner of the land to sell it to them.
"It's really easy to go find who owns land. If you've never done searches on this, in most counties, you can actually just go, it depends on your state.
"But in many places, you just search online, they'll have databases, so they could find out real easily who's the actual owner and then just pretend to be him.
"Now, to be clear, his attorney and Mr. Kenigsberg, they are not accusing the people who bought it of being involved.
"They think that they sort of didn't know what was going on, and that someone in South Africa did this.
"And that's who the police are trying to go after to find where the money actually went to when they paid for it."
Speaking about the bizarre case, Dr. Kenigsberg added: "I'm angry that so many people were so negligent that this could have happened.
"It's more than obnoxious — it's offensive and wrong."
UNILAD has contacted representatives for 51 Sky Top Partners, Dr Kenigsberg, and Anthony Monelli.