Veterans caught in middle of messy dispute over liens

Right now, we're in a position where we might lose the house. Not an exclusive tonight. Several veterans in Deltona say they found themselves in a battle against their city. Two families purchased properties whose previous owners had code violations. Now they're facing foreclosure if they don't pay a $125,000 bill from a decade ago. Marie Ettinger explains how they got caught in the middle. Almost everyone involved in this story is a military veteran. One is labeled 100% disabled with PTSD by the VA. He told me that has only gotten worse as he's tried for years to deal with this lean situation. Leanne Habitz and Carl Clarenbeek bought an investment property on Eden Drive in Deltona. Down the street on Tulip Drive, Carlos Monserrati bought a fixer-upper for his aging parents. Both are military veteran families. And both families are now facing a real estate nightmare. It has been extremely stressful because we're constantly being hit with something else. Right now, we're in a position where... We might lose the house. The problem started with the woman who'd previously owned both houses. When Carlos bought the Tulip Drive house, it came with $125,000 in code enforcement liens. But in Florida, city liens attached to the owner, not just the property. So that massive debt legally bled over to the Eden Drive house that Leanne and Carl had just purchased from the same person. And they had no idea. Why hold us The original code violations are minor and from years ago when Carl was deployed in Afghanistan and Carlos was serving in Iraq. A decade's worth of daily fines piling up for the previous owner and passed on to the veterans who purchased the properties. And now, even though the violations are cleared up and even though they have nothing to do with the current owners, both properties are under threat of foreclosure. It's been stressful. It's been hard. So why hasn't the debt been paid by now? When Carlos bought the Tulip Drive property, instead of the seller paying off the liens with the city, she gave him $125,000 to take care of it. Carlos went to a special magistrate with the Deltona Code Enforcement Board and she recommended wiping the lien. Hearing that, Carlos used the check to repay family members who'd loaned him money to buy the house. But learning Carlos had been given money specifically for the lien, the city reversed course, demanding payment in full. Carlos says the money was long gone by then. It was a big misunderstanding and we're caught up in the middle. But remember, the lien is still tied to the seller's other property, Leanne and Carl's house. And they are still dealing with a whole different mess, a separate fraud case involving the attorney they used for their closing and title. That tied their closing money up in the Volusia County Court Registry, even though a judge assigned the property over to them. This for me is just, It's unacceptable. I never had a chance to resolve anything. I tried, but I was just shut down. The city is moving forward with foreclosures on both veteran families. There should be absolutely no reason why they cannot release us, but they don't. I feel like we got convinced to buy this house with all the mess. I did reach out to the city of Deltona about this. They told me they can't comment because it's an ongoing case. Marie Ettinger, Fox 35 News.