The couple behind Florida’s world-famous Christmas lights have been exposed as squatters who forged a deed to take over the house.
Mark and Kathy Hyatt were widely praised for the over-the-top Christmas decorations that spread festive cheer in their Plantation Acres home for years.
But the pair are accused of taking over the property without purchasing it or taking out a mortgage after a Miami Dolphins player was forced to sell.
A team of real estate appraiser detectives discovered the Hyatt family was improperly occupying the home after a seven-month investigation, police said. Sun Sentinel newspaper.
Kathy told investigators that Mark, who died in 2020 at the age of 56, drew up the 2005 deed to the home by “cutting and pasting,” changed the locks on the home and threw out its contents.
The couple behind Florida’s world-famous Christmas lights have been exposed as squatters who forged a deed to take over the house
Mark and Kathy Hyatt were widely praised for the over-the-top Christmas decorations that spread festive cheer in their Plantation Acres home for years
An investigation into how the Hyatt family took over the property began late last year after Kathy contacted the office of Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar.
She claimed she had information about the 2005 deed “which resulted in the Hyatts’ unlawful ownership of the subject property,” according to a memo.
The house was initially owned by former Miami Dolphins player Brett Perriman in 1998, but he failed to pay his $400,000 mortgage and it was in danger of being repossessed.
He then took out a second mortgage for $585,000 to pay for the first, but defaulted again and he and his wife left the property in 2004, investigators said.
A private investor then paid $50,000 of the original mortgage before replacing the locks, setting an alarm and starting work on the house with the idea of flipping it for a profit.
But he was wrongly given a quit claim deed to the property in lieu of a mortgage assignment, according to a memo prepared by an expert real estate attorney to Kiar in November.
Mark and Kathy were looking for a house at the time and came across the house in the upscale Plantation Acres neighborhood.
She spoke to investigators at the property appraiser’s office and said it was “vacant and looked abandoned.”
Kathy claimed the couple came into contact with former owner Perriman, who agreed to sell it for $900,000, but Mark, who worked as a mortgage broker, realized he no longer had a valid deed.
She added that her ex-husband called the police and accused the investor of squatting.
Mark received an email in August 2005 from the Plantation’s former police chief, who said that “he believed that some form of fraud has occurred and may still be occurring regarding the property,” according to the investigation.
But the couple have been accused of taking over the property without purchasing it or taking out a mortgage after a Miami Dolphins player was forced to sell.
A team of real estate appraiser investigators discovered that the Hyatt family was falsely occupying the home after a seven-month investigation, according to the Sun Sentinel newspaper.
Kathy told investigators that Mark, who died in 2020 at age 56, “cut and pasted” the 2005 deed to the house, changed the locks on the house and threw out its contents.
She added that Mark used a locksmith to change the locks and told the alarm company that he was at the mortgage company when it went off.
He was told that the legal owner of the house was unknown and Kathy informed investigators during a deposition that Mark decided at that point to take over.
She claimed that he had drawn up a deed by ‘cutting and pasting’ and said ‘we are breaking in’. But he never submitted the forged document.
She said Mark used a locksmith to change the locks and told the alarm company he was at the mortgage company when it went off.
“What Mark was surprised about was that they never called the police,” Kathy told investigators. “They just believed it.”
She added: “We got rid of the living room. We threw out the kitchen. … We threw away everything in the refrigerator. … Mark told us to throw away all evidence of him so he couldn’t come back and say he had property before we arrived.
“Well, we broke in. I’ve never done that in my life. We never paid money to occupy. We were squatters.’
The investor decided to call police, but Mark “showed police the false deed he had prepared,” according to the county memo.
“The plantation police indicated this was a civil matter and left.”
The Hyatts were taken to court by the investor, but he did not win because their deed was dated later, according to investigator Mike Fisten.
Kathy said the couple tried to buy the house legitimately, but Perriman was not the owner.
“And we had already sold our house and we had nowhere to go and the house was empty and in real estate, 9/10 of the law is ownership,” she added.
“I had my real estate license, and I remembered it from class.”
But she clarified that the couple ended up paying $900,000 for the mortgage note years later. However, an expert lawyer hired by the Property Appraiser’s Office told her that this does not mean you own the house.
“Everyone was crouched at the time,” she claimed. ‘We own the paper, not the deed. We lived our happy little lives. We never owned the house, never.”
Kathy told investigators that her now-deceased ex-husband told her he would take care of everything.
The Hyatts used the house to turn it into an annual holiday destination with their extravagant Christmas decorations.
It featured a large display of lights, stuffed animals, a snow blower and even a reindeer.
Their home became so popular that the city sued them in February 2014, claiming the increase in traffic would eventually lead to an accident. It asked a judge to force them to reduce the size of the screen or turn it off completely.
But after a four-day trial in 2016, a judge ruled that the city could not prove that the attraction was a public nuisance.
The screenings came to an end in 2017 after Kathy and Mark divorced. They were in divorce court over child support and alimony Kathy owed. Then she was told she had to sign the deed to Mark’s estate.
But she told the court they never owned the property and that the deed was fraudulent, said lead investigator Vivian Gallinal.
The Hyatts used the house to turn it into an annual holiday destination with their extravagant Christmas decorations
It featured a large display of lights, stuffed animals, a snow blower and even a reindeer
Their home became so popular that the city sued them in February 2014, claiming the increase in traffic would eventually cause an accident, but this was dismissed by a judge.
The screenings came to an end in 2017 after Kathy and Mark divorced
Kathy told detectives that she sold the nearly $1 million mortgage note for $50,000 in cash to a stranger at a Starbucks and spent the money on groceries.
Mark’s sister Jane Zimmerman says Kathy and investigators’ claims are inaccurate. “Anyone can make up a story,” she said.
But Kathy said: ‘Jane has never been aware of our lives, she has no idea.
‘Mark wanted the house, that was it. I was a stay at home mom.
‘Mark says, “We’re moving.” I’m like, ‘okay.’ That’s how it went. I had no reason to question him.
‘I trusted him with every fiber of my being. That’s what he said: that’s what we do, that’s what we do.’
County officials want to recover $34,724 in back taxes for the property as the Hyatts are accused of wrongly receiving an exemption on their farm for seven years.
Broward County Property Appraiser Kiar said, “It is important that the people of Broward County receive compensation for the money they owe on this property,” adding that taxpayers “are also victims of fraud and deserve to be healed’.