A Miami resident is accusing the city of misleading him, pushing him to sell his family’s home well below market value – only for a city employee’s husband to flip it and make almost twice the amount.
The Little Havana home Jose Alvarez’s mother lived in before she passed away in 2017 is at the center of a lawsuit with explosive allegations against the city of Miami.
"This is not the outcome I wanted for the house," Alvarez said.
Alvarez sold the home for just more than $200,000 to Express homes, Inc. – a company owned by the husband of city attorney Victoria Mendez.
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That company quickly flipped the home and sold it for $370,000.
Eyebrows raised when Alvarez found out more than $270,000 in building code fines disappeared after the sale. Mendez’s husband – Carlos Morales — addressed the code enforcement board.
"Before I bought it, he moved everything out. It’s been empty for two years," Morales said.
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"We do not believe that Mr. Morales could carry out this business operation without the active assistance of the city attorney, her subordinates and others in the city," said Jeff Gutchess, an attorney at AXS Law.
The lawsuit accuses the city of misleading Alvarez, telling him those building code violations would be too expensive to resolve.
"I wanted to keep the house in the family, but unfortunately, because the city wouldn’t work with me, I wasn’t able to do so," Alvarez said.
But Mendez pushed back hard, calling this a ploy by the law firm and plaintiff to harass her family – claiming the law firm is trying to get her to settle in a separate case against the city — in which she says the law firm represents plaintiffs in.
She also accused the AXS law firm of bullying her since 2018 by using the media and blogs.
"I’m shocked by that," Gutchess said. "It has nothing to do with any other case."
The lawsuit also claims Express Homes, Inc. never had the correct permits to renovate and flip the home, escaping tens of thousands of dollars in fees.
NBC 6 tried to reach Morales and Express Homes, Inc. but wasn’t successful.
