DENVER — It's a bizarre follow-up to an homeowners association (HOA) foreclosure story Denver7 first told you about in March.
The home is in Green Valley Ranch — a hotbed of HOA foreclosures in recent years, according to public records.
One family that went through foreclosure earlier this year is still living in their home. Now, they say the company that bought the foreclosure is willing to give the home back, only if the family pays $29,000.
“It's been so hard,” said Monica Villela, who has lived in the home for 17 years. “My kids are really affected."
Villela continues to fight for what she believes is still rightfully hers.
“I don't think they have the title because we are still paying the mortgage,” she said. “For 17 years now to Wells Fargo without missing any payments."
Yet somehow, Villela says her HOA in north Green Valley Ranch, in conjunction with Westwind Management Group, has foreclosed on her home because of unpaid fines.
"$8,000 was the total,” she said. "Ridiculous fines because of grass that wasn’t mowed or trash being outside."
Denver7 first reported on this particular case back in March, and there are still many unanswered questions.
On Friday, Denver7 visited the Westwind office in Englewood and the Green Valley Ranch Metropolitan District office in Green Valley Ranch. Both said they would work to provide additional information. Westwind said public records indicate the home did change ownership in January.
"It's been an injustice,” Villela said. “It's awful what they did."
Now, the community is rallying around Villela and her family with a neighborhood meeting called The Redress Movement, focused on trying to remedy this situation and other similar cases.
"There are a couple organizations supporting us and a lawyer,” she said. “So, they're still investigating. We are a family of six, we have four kids underage. This is not fair what they're doing."
Green Valley Ranch sits in Denver City Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore's district. Denver7 reached out to Gilmore’s office Friday. An aide told us the office did file a complaint in this case with the Colorado Attorney General’s office, which investigated the HOA and found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the councilwoman said even though the HOA is not doing anything illegal, it doesn't mean what's happening isn't immoral. Gilmore’s office said this HOA is one of the most powerful in the state, and it and other powerful HOAs must be better regulated.