Hurricane Irma haunts North Naples mobile home neighbors facing eviction

At least 40 neighbors in a senior community are on edge because they only have days to comply with a notice or be evicted. They say the eviction notice is a residual nightmare of Hurricane Irma. And there are details for the required time frame to make repairs that only adds to neighbor’s confusion.

Neighbors at Caribbean Naples mobile home park say the company landlord is holding them accountable to replace missing carports and make other repairs to properties damaged by Hurricane Irma or be evicted in the next seven days.

“I live in a fixed income, and I don’t have the cash,” said Alan Beaulieu, a Caribbean Naples resident. “I don’t have $10,000 to put on the outside of my house so they can have a cosmetic look.”

Beaulieu received a hand-delivered notice that read he could be evicted because he didn’t replace the carport, he says, Irma ripped apart. As Beulieu said, a carport costs an estimated $10,000 to install, money that most people living at the mobile home park don’t possess.

The seven-day notice seems to be unrealistic, since getting the necessary permits for a carport or other repairs can take weeks. The notice adds confusion because it reads neighbors will face eviction if they don’t comply within the next 12 months. So it leaves those who have been given the warning with a question: Is it seven days or 12 months?

“When I moved here, the house was unlivable,” Beaulieu said. “I put a lot of money into this. And this is my last stand in life.”

Neighbor Peter Torrelli says owners of Caribbean Naples use volatile tactics to inform neighbors about required property repairs.

“Whenever they find something wrong, they threaten you about this, that and the other,” Torrelli said.

However, the community bylaws are clear: Owners must have a carport. But those who got the letter said it’s the first notice they’ve received for this current violation warning.

We reached out to the company for comment about the confusions within the eviction notice but have not received a response currently.

“How can you have somebody put something up?” Torrelli said. “And if a hurricane comes through, it’s going to be gone again.”

Although most people in the community own their mobile home, the land is owned by Caribbean Naples.

“I have nowhere else to go,” Beaulieu said. “If they take this house from me, I’m homeless.”